Kamen Rider: Convergence
by Captain Space
Summary: Bringing a single inter-connected story-with each other and with Showa-to the seasons from Kuuga through Decade, adding unique spin on each season's story! (Characters listed are for first arc)
1. Kuuga

**Kamen Rider: Convergence**

* * *

 _I worried about starting another Rider story with a couple of unfinished ones sitting on the backburner, but the ideas from those are gonna be incorporated into this-and besides, the 'spark' for this one has hit me way more...ah, well, in any case I hope you enjoy._

 _(Incidentally, my 'Kamen Rider Tackle' one-shot on this site is canon to this story, but that won't become relevant until the third arc of this so don't worry about it for now.)_

* * *

 **Kuuga Chapter—Part 1**

* * *

 _2000…_

Mika hummed to herself as she skipped down the road—rehearsal today had gone great! She couldn't wait to tell Jean and Ms. Enokida and Mr. Godai and about it—and mom and—

She came to a dead halt, pressing her hands to her head and biting her lip.

Everyone did their best, but there was always going to be a giant dad-shaped hole in her heart. She was sure that #4 guy was trying his hardest, but fatalities were still mounting by the day. Every empty seat in class was painful to look at.

In her daze, she never noticed the gentle rain of golden feathers falling around her, but the heavy footfall from behind was enough to bring her back to her senses, and she turned to see—she wasn't sure what.

At first she thought it was another Unidentified Life Form, come to finish what they started with her family. But from the pictures and news footage she'd seen, they were earthen-hued animalistic monsters; this figure was like a knight of old, resplendent in shining gold armour.

"Natsume Mika…" it rasped, the words grating, metallic. "2014: The second Kuuga. This will not come to pass." It raised a gilded, ornate staff, the needle-sharp lower end aimed at her as she stood stock-still, frozen in terror and confusion. "I will destroy every Rider!" it snarled, thrusting the weapon down—

—only for a second figure to materialise between them in a swirl of white light, another metal man, this one in red with a great horned crest rising from his head. One arm immediately shot up, blocking Mika's would-be assassin's strike. "Far enough, Odin," he said. This one's voice was quiet yet oddly carrying.

"Kabuto…" the golden one replied, failing to stay calm.

"This girl, right?" the man named Kabuto asked, indicating over his shoulder to her with his free hand's thumb. Then with a sudden burst of motion he flung Odin back, standing up straight and raising an index finger towards the sky. "Grandmother said, _Today's world exists to create the world of tomorrow. Live today to create the tomorrow you desire._ " His gesture swung downwards until it was Odin he was pointing at. "I won't let you take tomorrow's Riders!"

Odin fell still for a moment, before making up his mind; a card of some kind was ejected from his belt, which he caught and slotted into his staff, snapping it closed around the card.

" _Time Vent_ ," a synthesised voice declared—and in a shower of golden feathers, Odin was gone.

Kabuto sighed. "This again…I'll follow you wherever you go, you know." He turned back to Mika for a moment, nodding to her. "Grow up strong, okay?" Then his hand dropped to his waist, flipping a switch on the left side of his belt.

Another synth voice: " _HYPER CLOCK UP"._ Kabuto's body blurred as if with acceleration, then vanished, leaving Mika standing alone, completely dumbstruck.

Even with everything else that was going on, no-one was ever going to believe this.

* * *

Ichijou kept one hand held back, signalling for the squad behind him to hold. For the thousandth time he checked his rifle. For the thousandth time, it was fine. They finally had ammunition that should really put a dent in these monsters.

Another crash rolled in from afar. Godai's fight with the beetle Grongi had moved out to the nearby forest, leaving the bird one alone in the stadium the police now crouched in, stealthily making their approach. It was fine. It'd be okay. Godai had put himself through the electrocution process again. Last time it had given him his 'golden power'. A second time should be more than enough to win this one.

Godai didn't seem so certain of himself anymore, though. He tried to act as upbeat as always, but Ichijou at least could tell. Not everything is said out loud.

Just then, an enormous pillar of fire erupted from the forest. Ichijou hoped with all his heart that was the Grongi's death. Whatever it was, it was enough to distract the bird Grongi—who seemed to act as some kind of judge for their death-games—drawing its attention, its back completely turned to their hiding spot as it made a new mark on its tally-board.

Ichijou gave the signal to Sakurai's squad, and both leapt out of hiding at once, advancing in staggered formation down the bleachers, opening fire as soon as possible. The judge was caught completely off-guard and staggered forwards, falling to one knee as the Nerve-Breaking rounds dug into his back, shredding his white cloak.

Just as he was starting to take some real damage, though, something swept through the police ranks, swiping Ichijou off his feet. Before turning his attention to spot their new assailant, he chambered another round and snapped off a final shot from where he lay, putting another powered-up bullet straight into the injured Grongi's head. Only partway through its transformation, it slumped to the ground, eyes empty.

That dealt with, Ichijou could turn his attention to their new problem. It didn't take him long to identify. The smell of roses on the battlefield meant only one thing.

"B1," he muttered, picking himself up and glaring at the black-dress-sporting woman standing at the centre of the crowd of dazed police officers.

"I warned him the Linto had progressed," she said of her fallen ally, taking a few steps down. "He should have listened."

 _You won't get away this time…_ His rifle had fallen some ways away, but Enokida had provided pistol rounds as well, and he went for his revolver—only for the rose Grongi to smack it away with a suddenly-extended green tendril, her arm now transformed up to the elbow. Her face hardened and she completed the process, shifting from her human appearance to a monstrosity of plant-like sinew and thorns. She'd never revealed this form before. Clearly, in managing to kill such a high-ranking Grongi and disturb the 'games', the humans had crossed a line.

It was chaos. The orderly firing lines had been broken, shots fired wild, mostly missing. Even those that did hit didn't seem to make a lasting impression. Evidently she was a different class of Grongi from their previous target. Officers were being thrown around like rag-dolls, one or two impaled straight through as her fingers continued to extend and retract, like sentient vines, impossibly strong.

Ichijou dived for his rifle—and just as his fingers closed around it, her foot stamped down on it, splintering the weapon's middle section and breaking it in two. He looked up into her monstrous face, seeing death in the gleaming eyes.

 _No, damn it…I'm not done…Yusuke—!_

And then an engine roared, and a white motorbike practically flew in from above, smashing into the Grongi and carrying her all the way down the steps into the main part of the stadium, screeching to a halt and letting her fly on several metres with the built-up momentum before hitting the ground hard.

She rose quickly, having not taken any real harm, growling a string of threats in the guttural Grongi language.

The bike's rider dismounted; given the events of the past year, Ichijou had half-expected to see Godai, but as the stadium's lights illuminated their saviour's face, it became clear that this man was at least a generation older, stern-faced, powerfully-built.

He wore a biker's jacket and scarf, but no helmet. His breath didn't frost in the chilled night air. His stance was statue-like, without the tiniest shiver despite the cold. He hadn't felt such things in a long time. For Hongo Takeshi is a modified human: a cyborg.

'B1' had managed to recover her composure enough to remember to speak a language the humans understood, demanding, "What do you think you're doing? Who _are_ —"

"HAAA!" The mighty _kiai_ that leapt from Hongo's lips as he flung his arms out at his sides, a heavy studded belt materialising over his jacket at the same time, was enough to awe the Grongi and the entire police squadron into silence. He thrust his right arm across his body, then slowly rotated his stance, rumbling "RIDER…" as he turned. Then with startling suddenness he withdrew his right and pumped out his left, now a mirror image of his original stance. "TRANSFORM!" he bellowed, leaping an inhuman height into the air.

The circle on the front of his belt slid open to reveal a rapidly-spinning turbine, which rapidly accelerated, emitting waves of multi-coloured light that washed over him. When the light cleared and he landed, he was clothed in black and green from head to toe, highlighted by gleaming white gloves and boots. His helmet was decked out with large red compound eyes, tiny antennae, and a multi-layered steel jaw. The overall impression, backed up by the pattern of his chestplate, was of some kind of grasshopper man.

B1 was understandably taken aback. "Another new Linto weapon?"

Hongo slowly raised his gaze towards her. "Between Shocker, Badan and the aliens in Shibuya I've been kept busy for a long time…I hoped we could leave things here to this 'Kuuga' I've heard about. But the situation keeps escalating…I can no longer stand by and let you Grongi do as you please!"

 _Grongi…Kuuga…how does he know those names?_ Ichijou wondered. _Who—_ what _is he?_ Although, something about the man's transformed appearance seemed oddly familiar. Like an old story he'd heard as a kid, but couldn't quite remember…or that he'd been _told_ to forget?

* * *

" _Time to grow up, Kaoru. I'm sorry, but there's no such thing as—"_

* * *

His eyes widened, his breath catching in his throat. It _couldn't_ be.

Hongo leapt to the attack, somersaulting over the rose Grongi's pre-emptive swing. Now facing away from each other, they both swung around, forearms colliding as they swivelled to face each other again, quickly pushing off and backing away.

She lashed out with her tendril-fingers, ten deadly swaying weapons reaching for him—he ducked and cartwheeled through them untouched, dropping and sliding inside her guard before rising with an uppercut to her chin, easily dodging back out of the way of her return blows. The man's martial skill was simply breathtaking.

Despite this, she didn't seem to be slowing down, no matter how many hits he landed. "That doesn't hurt a bit," she taunted. "Don't think you're escaping alive—or them, either." She indicated the police. "You're just an annoyance…you'll tire out soon."

Hongo had reached the same realisation. "Then how about this?" He lunged, knocking her out of her guard with a quick one-two punch, then jumped at her and ran up the front of her muscular frame, kicking off to launch himself into the air above her, turning a full backflip and coming back down with one leg extended.

 _Just like Godai!_ Ichijou realised.

With a yell of "RIDER KICK!", Hongo slammed into the Grongi, a mighty _boom_ emanating from the point of impact; he landed on his feet and skidded backwards as he rebounded, while she was hurled to the ground, rolling away uncontrollably.

The bug-patterned hero sagged a little, breathing hard—this was usually enough to end a fight, but she was still moving. _Did I at least do some damage this time?_

Slowly, she climbed back upright, her inhuman expression inscrutable. Then, she laughed. "Was that all? What are you trying to do with an attack like that?"

 _Damn!_ Before he'd caught his breath, she was upon him again, her attacks coming closer and closer to hitting home each time. Finally, one clipped him and he staggered back a step—she didn't waste the opportunity, and smashed him to the floor with one great fist. The blows rained down one after another, only a few blocked by the desperate guard he threw up in front of his face, scoring gashes and cracks into his costume.

Eventually, he managed to roll away, pushing himself up but swaying heavily as he tried to focus on her. _What is this power…?_

"Get back here," she grunted, flicking her wrist and sending one hand's worth of vines out to ensnare him, slowly dragging him in towards her.

That half-memory was getting stronger in Ichijou's mind. _But…this isn't right…he can't…_ He almost had it, but it slipped away again. But he was certain that was he was seeing wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

Then the floodgates opened, and he stumbled forwards a step, almost involuntarily—on instinct—yelling, _"Don't give up! Rider!"_

At first the other officers just stared at him in bewilderment, but before long they began to have the same creeping thoughts. The same inescapable familiarity. There was something important they'd put aside a long time ago.

"Go for it!"

"You can do it!"

"Rider!"

Hongo's feet dug into the ground, resisting the rose Grongi's pull. "Do you…hear that?" he grunted.

"Inane pleas, you mean?" she teased. "What is 'Rider', anyway? What _are_ you?"

"Hrr…" Body trembling with exertion, he tore one arm free of the tangle of vines. " _Rider Chop!"_ The edge of his hand scythed down blade-like, severing the tendrils and freeing himself completely. He half-collapsed, falling to one knee and putting a hand out to support himself, but stared defiantly up at her. "You know what I hear?

"The children they once were are calling out to me. In each of their hearts is someone who can still believe that a hero will save them. And to protect the dreams and wishes of those children—" He clutched at his cracked chestplate. "—even if it kills me… _that is Kamen Rider!_ "

He surged to his feet, clenching his fists in front of him. _"Cyclone!_ "

Hearing an engine rumble behind her, B1 darted out of the way just in time as the Rider's bike zoomed past her of its own accord. Hongo leapt aboard as it passed him, circling around and aiming for her again, gunning the engine. Again, she dodged, but this time he kept going, hauling the front wheel up as he reached the other side of the stadium and planting it on one of the enormous pillars holding up the roof.

Then, impossibly, the bike began to climb up the vertical pillar, speeding right up to the very top of the stadium, whereupon the Rider leapt off and out into the open air. At his speed, an enormous amount of air blew through the turbine on his belt, spinning it up again. _Spin, Typhoon! Wind, give me power!_

One, two, three somersaults, forcing even more wind through the Typhoon belt, finally letting gravity overtake him and lancing straight down at the Grongi in the same jump-kick position as before. His movements past her, up, across and back down had all been so unexpected it took her until he was inches away to finally track where he was, with no chance to dodge. Power surged from the wildly-spinning Typhoon down into his leg, a flame-red aura of light enveloping his foot. "LIGHTNING RIDER KICK!"

This time, the attack punched straight through her, shearing her body in half, Kamen Rider landing behind her, forcing himself not to pitch over in fatigue. It wasn't until he'd remounted his fallen bike and sped off that the police broke out of their daze, dizzy with emotion—relief, loss, embarrassment, confusion.

One of them was already sprinting for his car, though, pointing it at the woods as fast as humanly possible.

* * *

"Uh…" Godai slowly emerged from unconsciousness, wiping the bleariness away with each blink. The breathing next to him was familiar. "Mr. Ichi—" He paused, realising where he was; Ichijou's house, private enough that there was no need for the formality. He gave a smile. "Kaoru."

"How are you feeling?"

"I...why am I in your bed?"

"Why wouldn't you be?" Ichijou responded, hoping he'd remembered Godai's words from that day on the roof well enough to echo them.

"Heheh." Godai's smile widened. God, how could he do that? No matter how dark things got, he was always there with a thumbs-up and a goofy smile, an assurance that no matter what, _it would be okay_.

He was pretty sure Godai Yusuke was some kind of miracle.

 _There's no way I deserve him._

"What happened to that guy?"

Ichijou sat up in bed, resting his back against the wall. "You got him. I guess the second shock worked…"

"Yeah!" Godai sat up too, sounding excited. "I turned into a black-armoured Kuuga! The power was somethin' else...it was only just enough, though."

"Right, you were pretty out of it when we picked you up. But...wasn't there a warning about a black Kuuga in what Miss Sakurako translated?"

"Yeah, but...that was a four-horned Kuuga," Godai said cheerily, miming a pair little curved horns on his forehead with his fingers. "Back then I still had two horns. So I think it's okay."

"If you say so...I'll get you something to eat." Ichijou hopped out of bed, grabbing and shrugging on his shirt from the bedside table. As soon as he got into the kitchen, though, his phone rang.

"This is Ichijou."

"All units are being called in, effective now!"

"What? What's happening?"

"This one's not like the others—just—get in here! Bring #4, please!"

Whatever the Grongi was like this time, it had to be stopped. He knew that. But couldn't Godai get _one_ day of rest? They put him through so much. But there was no-one else to turn to.

Well...maybe now there was. But the Kamen Rider had left to parts unknown, with no way of contacting him. They couldn't rely on him showing up again. He'd have to tell Godai about _that_ whole incident later.

With a pained look, he turned to walk back into the bedroom and deliver the news. "Yusuke...I'm sorry, but we need—"

The TV was on. Godai stood in the doorway holding the remote, staring in silence at the news. The anchor was terrified, crouching behind a burned-out car as a Grongi stalked down the road, occasionally flexing its arm and conjuring a massive fireball, torching passersby alive with every sweep of its hand. He recognised the silhouette, too, from right back when this all started.

"Yusuke—"

"I'm going." Godai's voice was trembling.

"Right...okay. Just...that's #0. This won't be like any other—just…" Ichijou half-turned away. "Stay safe."

"It'll be okay." Godai sounded like he was desperately trying to believe himself. "It'll be fine."

* * *

 _If anyone's wondering why Baruba (Rose Grongi/Unidentified Life Form B1) didn't explode when she died, think about the couple Grongi killed by the police or each other through the course of the series, none of which exploded. So I don't think that's necessarily just what happens when they die. I think it's a result of Kuuga's power being channelled through them. Which is why you see the stamped Kuuga symbol from where Godai kicks them glow intensely before it happens. And when he used Rising Mighty form for the first time, he mentioned to Ichijou that the explosion might be a lot larger—not because of the Grongi he was facing, but because of the form he was using._

 _So yeah. Grongi, unlike most Rider enemies, don't explode automatically, and Hongo is a cyborg and not a mystical kinda-Grongi…whatever Kuuga is, and also it would kinda suck if he saved those cops only for Baruba to explode and kill them all, right?_

 _Anyway, the Kuuga arc will be three chapters long, as the sort of introductory piece, with most arcs probably being a fair bit longer than that; every phase 1 Heisei season will get an arc, with Decade serving as the climax, and returning Riders abound. (And more girl Riders 'cause I love this series but it's not...great...with that.)_

 _Okay, see you next time! Chapter 2 is just about written so shouldn't be too long in coming!_


	2. Kuuga II: Altered

**Kuuga Chapter**

 **Part 2: Altered**

* * *

" _What's the matter?"_

Godai gasped as another wave of pain swept over him, rolling back over the wreckage of a phone-booth, hands scrabbling against the ground as he pushed himself to his feet.

" _Come on!"_

With a cry of desperation, Godai wheeled on his ankle, making a half-turn back towards his tormentor; a powerfully-built monster of white and gold, covered in finery like an emperor of old—the being the police called #0. He swung a punch with his spin, but #0 caught it with contemptuous ease, twisting his arm painfully back towards him.

" _Come on! Smile for me, Kuuga! Smile some more!"_

Some kind of spark flew from #0's fingers and a wall of flames smashed into Godai, hurling him back down the street. He hit an abandoned car, crumpling the bonnet and smashing the windshield, rolling off with a weak groan.

He never admitted defeat. Nothing was impossible. But right now...he couldn't think of a way. He could hardly think at all, with the final Grongi's boyish laugh ringing in his ears. He was in his new black-armoured form, stronger than he'd ever been, but against #0 nothing he did had the slightest effect. And every time he was thrown back, every time he let himself stumble and give the beast more time, more people died, their cries barely reaching him before they were snuffed out.

Around him the world was on fire.

He threw himself at #0 again, locking his arms around the monster's waist and hauling him off to the side, causing his latest pyrokinetic arc to fly wide, allowing the targeted family to get out of harm's way. Maybe the first people he'd saved during this entire ordeal.

" _That's cute…"_ #0 brought an elbow down into the side of his head, smacking him to the ground again. One of the Kuuga form's eyes cracked. Godai hadn't even realised that could happen.

"Why…?" he almost sobbed. "Why are you doing this? Any of this?" This was the one that had set up the whole Grongi death-game from the start.

" _Why do you think?"_ For a moment, the Grongi flickered back to his human form, grinning from ear to ear before reverting.

"Because you enjoy it?" Godai's fist pounded into the ground, cracking the road. "What kind of reason is— _uhlk_ " A vicious kick into his ribs turned him flat onto his back again, a sick feeling rising inside him.

" _That's the reason you do anything, isn't it?"_ He began forming another ball of flames between his clawed fingertips. " _I thought you'd be more fun. The last Kuuga was stronger…"_

"TOH!"

The cry had come from above, but by the time #0 looked to its source, the rooftop it had originated from was empty. When he looked back down, someone, or something, was standing between him and the fallen Kuuga, crimson scarf streaming out behind it in the unnatural storm #0 had called up.

" _What are you supposed to be?"_ he snorted. Some kind of strange Linto fashion? _No, wait_ —he gave a sniff. _Is this a man or a machine?_

 _If this is the Grongi leader, he could be even stronger than the other one I fought…_ Hongo glanced around at the destruction around them. _I can believe that. Has Kuuga really been fighting things like this all year?_

" _Well, whatever."_ #0 closed in, striking down at Hongo with flame-wreathed hands—the Rider spun to face away, blocking each with a raised forearm on either side of his head, the same spin sweeping his leg under the Grongi's and staggering it back a step. Hongo drew back, heading towards Kuuga. Even from that one exchange, his limbs were shaking, his gloves half-blackened from the heat.

 _There's no way. With my current power…_ His gaze rested for a moment on a damaged panel at the side of his belt. _Especially without that...I have no chance of winning. Kuuga, however…_ He hefted the fallen warrior over his shoulder, his antennae flashing as he summoned the remote-controlled Cyclone bike to him.

" _Like I'll let you,"_ #0 chuckled, positioning himself between them and the bike.

Hongo took two steps' worth of a running start, then—"RIDER JUMP!"—launched himself into the air a breathtaking distance, far over #0's head, coming back down on top of Cyclone, still carrying Kuuga. He wheeled the bike around, preparing to speed off, turning to deliver a parting message to #0 first.

"Stop this useless violence!" he commanded. "All you want now is to fight Kuuga, isn't it? He _will_ fight you-once I've helped him become a true challenge for you. That'll only happen if you have patience! Let these humans be."

" _Heheh...we'll see."_

"If you want your perfect battle, those are the terms!" Cyclone's engine roared, and they were off.

* * *

Sakurako squinted as the last pair of symbols lined up. This carving hadn't been neatly-printed like the other Linto writings in the ruins—it had been messily scratched into the floor next to the coffin the original Kuuga had lain dormant in for so long. That made it even harder than usual to translate, but it seemed important. Like a warning of some kind.

Finally, she had it all pieced together. There was the symbol for 'Grongi'. Then 'danger', circled three times for emphasis. Next, 'Leader'.

Then finally, a series of phonetic symbols—a name?

"N...Daguva...Zeba."

* * *

 _I really need to stop passing out…_ Godai shifted-and immediately rolled off the bench he'd been laid on. The smack of the hard ground beneath him jolted him back to full awareness and he remembered what he'd been doing. _#0!_ He sprang to his feet, then faltered, pain shooting through his legs. Just as he was starting to fall, steady hands caught him and sat him back on the bench. "Easy."

"I have to—#0—" His mouth was running faster than his mind. "I couldn't save them—they're all—"

" _Calm down!"_ Whoever it was shook him by the shoulders, and his eyes finally swam into focus, presenting him with the last person he expected to see.

"...Professor?" He blinked, stunned out of his anguish. "Professor Hongo! What are you—" He spotted the bike behind Hongo, and the scorch-marks just visible on his forearms where his sleeves ended, and put two and two together. "Wait, you're...you saved me back there?"

Hongo nodded, patting Godai's shoulder before sitting on the bench next to him. "Relax, Godai. If all goes to plan, that creature will wait a while before acting again. And if not...I'll take responsibility."

"But, what was that form back there?" Godai didn't quite understand, but it seemed like things were taken care of for the moment, so he did his best not to stay downbeat for long. "That was really cool! Do you have an Amadam too?"

Hongo shook his head. "That's the stone gives you your power, I think? No...you and the Grongi aren't the only things in this world beyond conventional understanding." His face twitched in concentration, and the heavy-set Typhoon belt—a stark contrast to the sleek, rounded one Godai used to become Kuuga-formed around his waist. "I was...remodelled, back in '71…" He took on a pained look for the tiniest instant. "This body is as much metal as flesh now."

Godai nodded, trying to look intelligent. "Uh-huh, uh-huh...apparently the Amadam is changing my body, too. The doctors don't really understand it...I hate to say it, but it's kinda scary." He held out his hand. "So, like...I guess we're both 'altered humans', right?"

Hongo shook it, smiling warmly. "Well said."

Godai leaned back, trying to collect his thoughts. There was so much he wanted to ask, so much he wanted to talk about. Here, finally, might be someone who had felt the same things he had, this past year. "I guess this explains why you were never on campus...I bet you've saved a lot of people, right?"

With a heavy sigh, Hongo stood. "After I became this, I could never stay still for long. I've been travelling and fighting for thirty years now...sometimes it feels like no matter what I do, the troubles of the world just won't diminish, but…" He shrugged. "I just can't help myself. That's what life is now—for me, and the other Kamen Riders."

"Kamen...Rider?"

"Like you and me, altered humans who transform to fight for humanity. Comrades of mine. I was the first—Kamen Rider #1."

"That's so cool!" Godai said again, giving a thumbs-up. "Who'd have thought, my university tutor was such an awesome guy…" He grinned awkwardly. "I wish I could say I aspired to be like you, but if I'm honest, it always seemed like we were kinda incompatible…it was my elementary school teacher I really looked up to all this time..."

Hongo chuckled. "No, that's good. You're your own person, Godai Yusuke, and you've grown into a fine man. I'm proud." _And...I'm so, so sorry you had to get involved in something like this. Violence doesn't suit you._

 _I wish I could shoulder this burden for you, but…_ He leaned against his bike. "I've only encountered a couple Grongi, but their strength was terrifying. It's clear that if you've been hanging in there this long, your power must greatly exceed mine. Well..."

He tapped a charred, busted panel on the side of his belt. "This is supposed to be a mechanism for temporarily increasing my power, but it's been damaged quite severely. Without it, I definitely can't put a scratch on that Grongi leader. In other words, I can't win this battle for you. But I can help _you_ win."

"What do you mean?"

"When the Riders of the past faced a great crisis, they always trained to overcome it. I think you have the potential to improve a great deal, Godai—hopefully we'll have enough time to achieve that."

"Oh, really?" Godai asked, excitement rising in his voice. "That'd be great! I've done some things kinda like that before," he added. "Learning how to use all Kuuga's forms properly…"

 _Different forms? Like Kotaro, then…_ "Well." Hongo stood up straight. "We haven't got much time. Follow me."

"Okay!"

* * *

"Daguva, huh?"

" _You're gonna stop him, right?"_ the voice on the other end of the line asked.

"Yeah...yeah, of course. It'll be okay! Actually I met someone really cool who's helping me prepare…"

" _Who?"_

"It's kinda...I'll tell you everything later, okay? Don't have much time."

" _Just...be careful,_ " Sakurako warned. " _This one's killed dozens of other Grongi."_

 _So have I,_ Godai thought.

"Don't worry," he said out loud, hanging up. He gave Hongo a nod. "Thanks for waiting."

"Let's begin." They both transformed without ceremony, squaring off about ten feet apart.

"Oh, but…" Godai pointed at the open flat ground and piles of crumbled rock around them. "How'd you know about this place? Did you used to live here?"

"No, I...sort of…" Hongo seemed a little embarrassed. "A lot of my old battles ended in quarries, for some reason. After a while, I couldn't help memorising their locations."

"Huh...well, anyway. What kind of training were you thinking of?"

"First, take your strongest form."

"Kay…" Godai focused inwards, trying to recapture the feeling from before. Gold detailing began to form around Kuuga's body, sparks jumping between them. This was the golden power he'd been using for a while now-now for the next step. With another effort of will, he dug even deeper into that reserve. Then, an even more striking change—his red armour became black, the highlights standing out even more now. "This is it. So what should I—"

In the time it took him to blink, Hongo was already upon him, forward hand clenched around his neck. He shoved it away, just barely getting his arms up in time to block a second strike. _Fast_ — _!_

"You tapped into new source of energy to access this," Hongo noted, his helmet's compound eyes feeding him energy readouts. "But you're only scratching the surface of it!" He broke away, one leg kicking up after the other, the right knocking Godai's block away and the left pushing off his chest, sliding Godai back a few steps while Hongo guided himself to a landing back near his starting position.

"Yeah, you're right…" Godai admitted. "The ancient writings we're working on translating mentioned something like this...well, it was a four-horned Kuuga, but the colour is the same, so I guess I'm getting close. I don't really want to become that, though. Apparently it's 'the ultimate darkness' and it'll 'dry up the holy spring'."

"Do you have any idea what that means?"

"I think so…" Godai looked away. "I think I almost became that version of Kuuga once." He shivered, recalling the school. The needles. The funerals. The list of names, piling up, with nothing he could do. "I was just so _angry_ —it was all I could feel. It was like...becoming a Grongi, I guess. If I try it and lose control…"

"That may be, but there's no choice," Hongo said firmly. "As we are now, you and I are no match for Daguva. And I don't take him for the patient type. The killings will resume, and soon."

"I can't—"

"What other option is there?"

"We could fight him together?"

"I do plan on being there, but Godai...my attacks just now, they didn't hurt, right?"

Godai shrugged. "I didn't wanna say it but, no. You're really good—I couldn't stop you landing hits—but they didn't really do anything." _Not in this form, anyway. If I'd been the red Kuuga, even with the golden power, I'd have really been in trouble._

"Exactly." Hongo pointed across at him. "And the gap between you and Daguva is even wider! What can you do in that form?" Perhaps, he thought, if Ichimonji had been here to lend his power...but Rider #2 was in Brazil now, hunting for Badan's latest hideaway alongside Amazon.

Godai was silent for a while, his posture slumped, defeated. At last, he raised his head. "...you're right. Hongo, sir, I'm going to try it." He gave a little bow. "If I go out of control...please, work together with the police and find a way to stop me."

Hongo held out a fist. "I swear it."

"All right." Godai closed his eyes, once more focusing inwards. He knew what he sought lay in the same direction as the power he'd tapped to produce his current form, buried much further down. But it was disturbingly easy to reach all that way down—he'd opened this path once before, if only for a moment.

This wasn't like the other forms he'd had to work to unlock and master; this power, and everything else that came with it, was his for the taking. If he wanted it.

Of course he was scared. But—

 _I'm not gonna see anyone else cry._

 _Even if I have to lose myself...I'm gonna make it so everyone can smile again._

His body gave a shudder, a chill wind sweeping over the quarry. Little tongues of fire began lapping up and down his armoured form, his head and limbs twitching jerkily, all in complete silence—more unnerving than any scream, somehow.

He reached the tipping point. For almost ten seconds, he was engulfed in a dome of roaring flames. What finally staggered out was a different Kuuga altogether. The carapace was still black, but it was bulkier, with swept-back spikes curving off the knees, shoulders and elbows, and far more gold detailing, winding like veins around his body. Four horns sat atop his head.

Hongo took a cautious step forwards. "Godai…?"

"I...I did it…" Godai began, then froze, his voice twisting off into a strangled gasp. "I can't—" His helmet's eyes faded from red to black.

"Godai!" Hongo was running now. "Fight it!" He reached his student, taking him by the shoulders. "I'm here! Godai!"

" _hhhHHGGHhhhk_ — _"_ Another fiery explosion erupted from his body, flinging Hongo to the ground. When they cleared, Godai was back in his human form, sinking to his knees and staring blankly up into the sky.

Hongo, similarly de-transformed, limped over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "You had it. For a moment, you had it."

"I don't know," Godai almost whispered. "I'm sorry—I hurt you..."

"I'm all right!" the veteran Rider insisted. "We've still got a little time. You can keep trying."

Just then, Godai's phone rang. "H-Hello?" He didn't speak for almost the entire call, his face growing paler and paler. "I'll be there," he said eventually, hanging up and scrambling for his own bike (he'd had it sent here while they were preparing).

Hongo, seeing things were serious, was already heading towards Cyclone. "What is it?"

"Daguva got tired of waiting, I guess," Godai responded. "It's like before. He's just...walking around, destroying everything he sees. By the time the police catch up he's moved on. They've been working on a radar for detecting Grongi, but to do any good it needs to be mounted on this." He patted his bike—the force's fastest prototype, the BeatChaser 2000. "So I'm gonna go pick it up."

Hongo mounted his own bike, revving the engine. "I might be able to catch up to him on Cyclone, but your method is more reliable. On the off-chance I catch him, I'll try and stall him until you arrive. And Godai!" he added, as the younger man turned his machine to leave. "What will you do when you face him?"

"My best," Godai said, donning his helmet and roaring off back towards the inner city.

* * *

Godai had thought he'd seen the worst of it. The past year, the things he'd been forced to do, he thought he'd seen the bleakest the world could throw at him. But he'd always held to the thought that it'd been worth it. No matter how bad it got, it was worth it, for that one upside.

Which might've now been torn away right in front of him.

He walked through the wreckage of the police station in an empty daze, feet idly kicking through fragments of burning paper, vaguely acknowledging the words that reached him from the officers swarming around the place.

"—just walked in—"

"—nothing we could do—"

"—weapons completely ineffective—"

"—left carrying Ichijou—"

"—he was alive! They never took prisoners before, why would it—"

"—TryChasers all destroyed—"

Snapping back into focus, Godai grabbed the nearest officer he recognised: Sugita. "Scanner," he said flatly.

"...destroyed," the older policeman said with a resigned look, tensing as Godai's grip on him tightened. This was actually a little terrifying; he'd never seen Godai like this. "But—wait, listen!" He put a hand on the distraught young man's shoulder. "#0 said something...a message for 'Kuuga'. That's you, yeah?"

Godai took a deep breath, forcing himself to stand still long enough to listen.

"He said…'tell him, Mt. Kuro. Hurry.' And..." Sugita's voice began to tremble. "...just...smiled."

Godai was gone before he could say another word.

"Sir!" Sakurai came staggering up to him, managing a salute. "Do we follow?"

Sugita shook his head. "#4 is doing his job. Let's do ours. There's a lot of wounded out there, and rescue teams will be stretched thin after everything #0 did. Get everyone who can walk moving!"

* * *

Ichijou gasped as he was finally thrown to the ground, landing face-first in the snow and scrambling to his feet. He grabbed his revolver from its holster, shakily levelling it at the smiling, white-suited boy before him. After a moment he sighed and replaced the weapon. He'd seen enough other officers try to know not to bother.

"What is this?" he asked, falling again. _Where did this wind come from?_ Stupid question. Storms had always followed where #0 went.

Daguva lurched a step towards him, lilting laughter carrying over the wind's howl. "See, I think I might've hit Kuuga a little too hard. Might've broken him. Gotta give him something to get him fired up. So he's gonna come for you with fire in him. That'll be fun, right?"

Ichijou just sat there, staring up into the gleeful eyes. This wasn't some sinister mastermind. This was a violent child. With the power to unmake the world.

"I hope I chose right," Daguva mused, half to Ichijou and half to himself. "I just happened to notice someone who didn't have the same smell as Kuuga—so not family—but was just _covered_ in his smell. Was expecting his woman—got you instead. I learn something about the Linto every day..."

His eyes gleamed. "So let's sit tight 'till he gets here, 'kay?"

* * *

Two wheels screamed down the highway, bike and rider making a direct line for the centre of the growing snowstorm.

 _Please don't die, Kaoru._

 _If you're gone, I might just become that ultimate darkness._

* * *

 _I looked it up and apparently Mount Kuro is like...on the other side of Japan from Tokyo, but given the BeatChaser 2000's ridiculous top speed a quick bit of division showed it could make the trip in like three hours. (And hell, the Cyclone is a good bit faster even.)_

 _Alternatively it's possible I'm completely wrong about where everything is, in which case it's a good thing I'm leaving timeframes vague._

 _Anyway, the Kuuga arc concludes next chapter._


	3. Kuuga III: Yusuke

**Kuuga Chapter**

 **Part 3: Yusuke**

* * *

Ichijou had just been focusing on keeping warm for a while, using the physical hardship to push fear and doubt out of his mind. He was not an optimist. Things like belief and trust didn't come easy to him. But there was one man who'd broken through all his defences, who he'd believe in to the end.

Godai would come. And this time, he would win. This Ichijou knew for certain.

Footsteps crunched towards him over the snow. Daguva's blissful expression appeared through the howling blizzard. "Hello, friend."

Ichijou shot him, just out of spite.

Daguva giggled as the bullet bounced uselessly off him. "I understand."

"What?"

"You're running out of patience with me." He grinned from ear to ear. "I'm getting impatient too. And I'm starting to wonder. What'll get the biggest rise outta Kuuga? Fighting to rescue you, or fighting to avenge you?"

"Hold on…" Ichijou started taking slow steps back, Daguva matching his pace and staying right in front of him.

His skin warped and ruptured, his Grongi form bursting forth, claws reaching for Ichijou's face. _"It's not often I only get one human to play with. I wonder how far I can get your blood to spread."_

The hardened police officer was completely frozen up. Again, death stared him in the face. Again, he could only think of how much more he had to do.

Then a long metal bolt speared through the air, knocking Daguva's hand away.

He gave a long, contented hiss, swinging around towards the source of the attack. _"Lucky you."_

A gleaming spot of colour appeared through the blizzard, rapidly getting closer. Kuuga, in his green 'archer' form, infused with his golden power, crossbow-like weapon levelled across the BeatChaser's handlebars. He kept firing as the bike roared nearer, implacable tires devouring the tough terrain, Daguva strolling forwards and smacking the bolts out of the air.

The distance between them shrank to nothing in moments—at the last second, Godai pulled further on his reserves, tossing away his weapon as it reverted to the revolver he'd converted it from, armour shifting from green to black.

The distance closed, and they met at the centre of the storm, Kuuga's punch glancing off Daguva's chest while the Grongi's sweeping arm caught Godai by the neck, wrenching him off his bike and flipping him onto his back, the vehicle careening off into the snow.

Godai didn't have time to recover, dragged up off the ground just in time to have another powerful blow slammed into his body, Daguva's grip on him never relaxing.

"I won't…let you…" he slurred.

" _Come on, Kuuga. Come on, little hero. You've got more than that, right?"_ Finally, he tossed Godai away, landing him next to Ichijou. _"Bring out the_ real _Kuuga. I know you can feel it waiting. Let it out."_

"Godai…?" Ichijou crouched by him, concern etched into his face, helping him sit up. "What's he talking about?"

"I can't…" Godai mumbled. "That power, I can't…" He looked up. "I'm so glad I got here in time. You're alive." The relief was palpable.

"Alive…not safe." Ichijou frowned. "No-one is, with him around. Do you understand, Godai?" _I'm ordering him to fight again…_ He dropped the stern expression. "I'm sorry…that it had to be you, going through all this, hurting, hurting others…"

Godai shook his head. "No, it's okay. I'm glad it was me. Because…no matter what else happened, or happens now…because I got to meet you."

Before he could say any more, he saw Daguva's hand flick out, wreathed in magical flame—

—and jumped to his feet, throwing himself in front of Ichijou and in the attack's path, yelling in pain as he hit the ground, Kuuga's form vanishing and leaving a half-conscious human lying gasping in the snow.

" _Godai!_ " Ichijou ran to him, shaking him by the shoulders. "Godai! Stay with me!"

"…sorry…I couldn't do it…" he was saying, his voice thin.

" _I'm disappointed,"_ Daguva said, still advancing towards them, taking his time. _"You were supposed to give me some fun at last. But you're boring. You_ have _the power but you won't_ use _it!"_ The flames returned. _"I guess if we're done here…"_

"I'm sorry," Godai said again, holding tight to Ichijou and closing his eyes.

Metallic footsteps thundered across the snowy field.

 _My best won't even knock him off-balance…but…if I could use_ that…

Kamen Rider #1 gave another glance down at the busted panel on his belt as he ran.

 _It's had some time to heal…it might be good for one use…even if just for a moment…_

 _Have to count on it!_

"DAGUVA!" His booming voice carried through the biting wind as he emerged through the snow, his full figure following his glowing compound eyes into visibility.

" _You again?"_ Dagua hissed. _"I'm busy—"_

Hongo popped open the cracked panel, flipping the switch. " _Rider Power!"_ Jagged arcs of light leapt out from his belt, flowing up his body and along his limbs. He flinched as the damaged mechanism caused him pain, but kept running, transitioning into a flying leap at Daguva.

Daguva snarled, half-turning to face him. _"When will you learn your Linto machines can't—"_

"RIDER PUNCH!" Hongo collided with the Grongi leader fist-first, all his might channelled into the single point of the blow, Daguva skidding back uncontrollably twenty feet or more, doubled over.

Then Hongo cried out, falling to one knee as the damaged circuit backfired, a trickle of blood leaking through the Typhoon's fan where the machinery met his body. "That's all…I can do…Godai!"

Ichijou helped Godai stand, but the younger man still looked shaken. "I don't…think I can do it…the dark down there, it's too much…"

"I believe in you!" Hongo declared. "I have no choice. But you—you do. You must use that power…and you can choose what you will become." He put a hand to his chest. "You can become the ultimate darkness…or Kamen Rider Kuuga."

"Can you do this?" Ichijou asked.

 _Kamen Rider…_ Godai finally pulled off a smile, clasping his hand. "It's for everyone's smiles, right?"

Hongo nodded approvingly. _That's a wonderful thing._

"Then, Mr. Ichijou…one more time, please watch me…" Godai summoned the Amadam belt, thrusting one arm out in front of him and slowly drawing it across his body. " _Transform!_ " The extended hand quickly moved down to meet the other by the side of the belt, something within clicking into place on contact, initialising the change.

This time he was tapping straight into Kuuga's ultimate power. Golden lines trickled out of the belt, tracing intricate patterns in the air around Godai's body; eventually the spiked, horned, towering black figure formed within this framework. So far, his eyes remained red.

"Godai…?" Ichijou asked, hesitating.

Kuuga looked back. Nodded. Gave a thumbs-up. Strode off to face Daguva.

* * *

With a wave of his hand, Godai calmed the storm. The wind died down, Kuuga and Daguva's approach to each other made in dead silence.

They pointed at each other in unison, the gestures bringing forth waves of flame, washing over their armoured bodies without effect, melting the snow around their feet.

The walk became a run, became a sprint. They moved fast enough to extinguish the flames with sheer momentum, covering the hundred metres between them in barely two seconds.

They collided, and this time stayed deadlocked. Punches, parries, counters struck back and forth like lightning. Either could've split a mountain in two, instead focusing all that terrifying strength into an object as tiny as a person's body.

Metal, and unnatural pseudo-flesh, cracked. Blood was spilled, seeping through their armour and staining the white carpet surrounding them.

 _That's it!_ Daguva was loving it. Finally, the Kuuga he'd been waiting to fight all this time. Something that could really get his blood pumping. And the longer they fought, the more likely the Linto would give in to it—in that case, even if Daguva died, the glorious death-games could continue.

Godai was just hurting. He'd been hurting for a year, and all he wanted was to finish it.

Their knee strikes glanced off and slid along each other, each smashing into the other's belt. Their images flickered, then they were back in their human forms. But neither could afford to let up. They were getting exhausted, just laying uncoordinated punches into each other's faces, stumbling through snowdrifts and spraying ever more red over its pristine white surface. Every time he got hit, Daguva just laughed. Godai was pretty sure he was crying. It wouldn't end.

Then one of Godai's punches just _rebounded_ off Daguva. A little light was emanating from his belt, and his form began to change again. _"Guess mine's…in better shape."_

This was true: In their first fight back in the city, the Amadam had taken a few hard knocks, along with every other part of him. That must've been why Daguva was able to transform again quicker.

Daguva grasped him around the ribs, giggling with delight as his hands began to heat up, preparing to burn Godai alive.

He was expecting his life to flash before his eyes. But all he could see in his mind's eyes was what he'd seen when he first got here. Daguva threatening Ichijou's life. Seconds away from snuffing it out.

 _And no-one…_

"No-one…" he murmured.

Daguva paused. _"What's that? Speak up."_

"…can _ever…_ " Godai growled, clouds of black smoke billowing out from the Amadam and spreading out over his body. He put his hands around Daguva's forearms, his face suddenly a mask of fury.

His words disappeared into a savage howl, and the smoke erupted into flame, throwing Daguva back. Barely a second later, the four-horned, ultimate Kuuga charged out of the fire, eyes black, still screaming in rage.

Daguva struck first, landing a solid straight right to Kuuga's face, but it didn't seem to register; he just twisted his head back into position, smacking Daguva's attacking arm aside and jamming one of his elbow-spikes into the Grongi's stomach, blood gushing from the wound.

Daguva gasped, staggering back, pain and ecstasy wracking his body. _"Who's…smiling…now?"_ he cackled, as Kuuga stepped implacably forwards, raising his burning fist.

* * *

Hongo was too weakened to move much yet, so Ichijou eventually had to forge out in search of Godai himself. The storm had started up again, and visibility was as low as ever. He stumbled along, calling Godai's name until his voice grew hoarse, fear rising higher and higher in his mind the more blood he trudged through. "Godai…please…"

Then he saw it.

A white-clad boy lay unmoving on the ground, horrendous gashes and burns covering his whole body. He looked so small and frail in death.

Kuuga stood over him, arms hanging by his side, shoulders heaving, giving off a constant low growl. Caked with blood, Daguva's and his own. Entire body humming with dark power. Monstrous.

Ichijou slowed his approach, stepping in front of Kuuga with care. "Godai? It's me." The warrior didn't respond, reaching out a hand as if to crush him.

Ichijou took it gently, pushing it back down and leaning in to embrace Godai. "Idiot."

"Kh—!" Kuuga flinched at the contact, fighting the urge to violence.

"You're always working so hard…always saying you'll protect everyone's smile…" Ichijou buried his head in the chest's carapace, suddenly yelling, _"What about_ your _smile, idiot?!"_

"Ah—aaa…aaah…" The growl transitioned into an anguished wail. The fire flickering between his fingers vanished. Kuuga's eyes faded from black to red. "Kao…ru…"

"Yusuke. Come back to us."

When he raised his head, Kuuga's form itself had faded away, leaving only the human, Godai Yusuke. In his arms. His face inches away.

"You brought me back," Godai said quietly.

"Don't forget it," Ichijou joked, before leaning into him. The first kiss they'd dared outdoors, while the storm finally died around them, sharing the passion of victory and the joy of living on.

Hongo, now visibility had returned, saw them and smiled. _Good to see that youth isn't wasted on the young…_ After a moment, he turned away to give them privacy, making his way back over to the fallen bikes. Behind him, Godai and Ichijou didn't move from that spot for a long time, letting all the stress and terror of the past year drain away and thinking only of the wonder of that moment.

* * *

"Godai!"

"Where have you been?"

"You disappeared right when—"

"All the storms—"

"#0 killed so many people, we thought—"

"—but the news says #4 stopped him!"

Still standing in the doorway of the café he'd practically grown up in, Godai nodded to everyone, giving a reassuring thumbs-up all round.

"Uh…guys." It was okay now. It was over. He moved his hands towards his waist, preparing to summon the Amadam belt. "There's something I should tell you."

* * *

"There's something I should tell you," Ichijou said after giving his final mission report of the #0 case, and indeed the Unidentified Life-Forms case as a whole. He took a deep breath. "It's about that rumour about me."

All chatter immediately stopped, everyone's ears pricking up.

"It's true," he said without batting an eye. Before the whispers could start up again, he pressed on. "His name is Yusuke. We've been together for a year. There will be no further questions. Thank you." He gave a quick bow to his co-workers and left the room.

* * *

"You really beat all those monsters?" Mika asked, wide-eyed.

"Sure!" Godai said with a grin, before scratching his head and admitting, "Well, the police helped a lot. And this awesome guy called Kamen Rider, too!"

"Kamen Rider?"

"Ooh, lemme tell you about him!"

Hongo watched them continue past him on the other side of the street, smiling gently as they laughed and cheered. _Perhaps he isn't a Rider after all._

 _Something happier, maybe._

* * *

"What do you mean?" asked Godai when Hongo brought this up; the older man was heading towards his bike, parked outside the café.

The Rider sighed. "It's a lonely life, Godai. I can't ask you to just leave everything behind and devote your life to fighting. You're not suited to violence anyway. Look…don't worry. The rest of us will manage. And I'll tell them all of how much you've done for us." He gave Godai's signature thumbs-up gesture. "You don't have to hurt anymore."

Godai returned the gesture, but shook his head. "I know I can't leave forever. There are people I care about. That I love. Everyone would miss me. But hey, I go on adventures all the time. Sometimes I'm gone for ages." He brought his fist forward and tapped it against Hongo's. "You never know where I might turn up. So if something happens, please call me. I'd hate not knowing."

Hongo nodded. "I suppose I was wrong. You're…a new kind of Rider, after all."

Godai looked overly pleased with himself, puffing out his chest. "Yup, yup, that's me. Millennium special edition."

"We'll meet again, then." Hongo mounted the Cyclone and pulled on his helmet. "Be seeing you." With a final wave, he sped off to parts unknown.

Godai's smile fell a little. "Stay safe," he said to the clearing fumes. _Thank you for everything._

* * *

 _Come on and follow me to a future without sadness._

* * *

"They're making you take a vacation, Mr. Ichijou?"

"Yeah, a long one. Paid, even. They said I've done the work of a lifetime recently."

"Doesn't sound like you to accept it."

"I took a lot of convincing."

* * *

 _The only thing in my pocket is the smile on your face._

* * *

"You said you were going to leave on another adventure when the Grongi were all gone, right?"

"Yeah…well…"

"Well?"

"Since you're free for a while and all…we could go together?"

* * *

 _I will become the blue sky._

* * *

 **Kuuga Chapter: End**

* * *

 _So yeah, I've kind of had chapters 1 to 3 planned out in my head for quite a while now, so I ended up getting them written and uploaded pretty quickly. We'll see how things progress from here on out, as we move into the Agito arc and forwards._


	4. Agito

**Agito Chapter: Part 1**

 _This story will within an arc or two feature pretty much all of the past Riders, but I wanted to build on the Kuuga-Agito link that's already kinda sorta there in the show, and make this arc a direct continuation of Kuuga, hence the returning characters for this one will mostly be those featured in the first three chapters…well…with one significant addition, as you'll see._

* * *

 _2001_

"Hey! Cut it out!" Aching from head to toe, Ashihara Ryou staggered through the rain, desperately dragging himself through the wetter-by-the-second mud to escape his remorseless pursuer.

"I'm sorry," said the psychic, Katsuhiko. He did not sound sorry. "I can't let you live. Kino said so."

"The hell…is your problem…" His voice hoarse, Ryou tripped and fell, head submerging for a moment as the mud met a rain-formed lake in the field. "I saved you assholes…" Yet now he'd spent the better part of an hour fleeing for his life as every damn thing around him had been tossed at him with deadly psychokinetic force.

Katsuhiko pointed to a pile of steel rods, causing them to levitate and begin to spin. His finger tracked over towards his fallen victim. "The Akatsuki survivors have to look out for each other," he said, still completely deadpan. "If Mr. Kino says you're dangerous, you're dangerous." The mentally-controlled weapons angled themselves towards Ryou, vibrating, his power gradually filling them, like a rubber band being stretched further and further back, promising greater and greater speed when finally released.

"…don't…c'mon…" Ryou croaked, weakly raising a hand in front of his face.

* * *

 _Two days ago…_

"Mr. Hongo? Is…it too much to hope you just phoned to check on me?"

"Godai…"

"I understand. What's happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure. It's definitely some kind of inhuman monster, but the police aren't being as open about it as they were with the Grongi. I do know they have an armoured suit to combat them—patterned after you, actually."

"If it's not public…it hasn't got as bad as back then, I guess?"

"Not yet. And if we can stop them soon, it won't have to at all."

"Gotcha. Just send me the location and I'll be there."

"Also…he won't be able to join us for a while, but given how desperate things got last time, I'm calling in another comrade from overseas."

"Great! Who?"

"My closest friend…a man I have fought side by side with for many years."

* * *

 _Five minutes ago…_

Shouichi laid into the pair of Unknown with contemptuous ease, guided by Agito's natural graceful fighting instincts. He'd only just recovered his memory, and there was still so much to do—he had to finish this quickly. Luckily, he was stronger than ever. With his memory restored, his Agito powers seemed whole too, and he was able to sync up all three of his forms and combine them into one—his red right arm held his sword, his blue right arm held his bladed staff, and the black and gold of the rest of his body carried the hand-to-hand prowess of his standard form. Like this, even both of the Unknown at once were no match.

They had been tough opponents without it, though. Birdlike muscular humanoids, like most Unknown made of something halfway between flesh and stone, wearing some vaguely medieval half-outfit, one wielding a great wicked scythe like a reaper out of a tapestry, the other a halberd. The rain poured down a few metres away, but under the heavy concrete bridge they were untouched by it, every clash of metal ringing off the hard stone overhead.

How could he have forgotten so long? Tetsuya. He wasn't done talking to Tetsuya. Except… _that_ man was the real Shouichi, and _his_ ownbirth name was Tetsuya. But during his amnesia the switch had happened, and he'd lost his memories for so long…at least for the foreseeable future, he had to accept that he'd be known as Tsugami Shouichi.

And Yukina. She was the reason he had to talk to—to the man who was now Tetsuya. There was no way…no way she'd killed herself. She just wasn't that kind of person.

That's what he had to tell himself. Because she was such a strong, eternally-happy person. If she could hold it together, living with these powers, maybe he could too. But if it had been too much even for her, what hope did he have?

He ducked back from the Unknown's next attack, blocking one with each weapon before pushing them both back, raising the blades high and preparing to deliver the finisher.

And…

And…

… _what am I doing here?_

 _Where is this place?_

 _What…day is it?_

* * *

 _Now…_

The makeshift weapons shot down through the air towards Ryou at deadly velocity, finally loosed from Katsuhiko's telekinetic grip.

Ryou shoved his head down, screwing his eyes shut—and—nothing? No impacts, no additional pain.

When he opened his eyes and looked up, the steel rods were strewn across the ground around him. Standing between him and the murderous psychic was an unmoving, well-built man—he was facing away, but over the top of his leather jacket an impressive head of hair was visible.

"What the hell?" Katsuhiko groaned. "Out of my way, man. You'll get hurt."

Ryou's saviour bent down and picked up one of the fallen metal bars. With a grunt, he crushed a section of the metal between the fingers of one gloved hand, sending two cleanly-broken pieces clattering to the ground, one on either side of him. "One of us will," he growled.

Turning pale, Katsuhiko turned and fled, mouth opening and closing silently.

"Who…are you…?" Ryou gasped, clawing his way up out of the mud.

Hongo Takeshi turned around and crouched down to his level, extending a hand and smiling warmly, all the menace of a second ago gone in an instant. "A friend."

* * *

 _Ten minutes ago…_

Godai and Hongo sat at a café's outdoors table—sadly, not Godai's beloved Pore Pore, wrong part of town. "So I propose we use the police channels hardwired into your BeatChaser," Hongo was saying. "I can tune into them with my antenna, but only when transformed, and it's not exactly inconspicuous to look like that too much of the time."

"Right, and when one of the monsters is attacking, we get there and—bam!" Godai mimed an exaggerated haymaker. "They'll recognise Kuuga, uh, 'Unidentified Life-Form No. 4', I think."

"If we're lucky, one of them might even recognise Kamen Rider," Hongo chuckled. "Sounds like a plan." He raised his coffee-cup, a thin ray of sunlight breaking through the oppressive almost-rainclouds overheard to reflect off of it. "How's your better half?"

Godai beamed. "Great! Actually, he's trying to get a transfer back up here, so he can be on the investigation team for these monsters. Apparently the squad fighting them is called, uh, the 'G3 Unit', they said."

"Are you worried?" Hongo asked. "If he gets his transfer, he'll be on the front lines again…"

"I can't worry," Godai said simply. "Kaoru is…too cool for anyone to worry about him. If he ever comes home hurt and I make a fuss, he just—" He flashed a thumbs-up. "—does my thing back at me, tells me he'll be fine. I trust him."

"I'm—" Hongo paused. "Those…are not human footsteps."

Within ten seconds, leaving hasty handfuls of money for the meal, they'd vaulted the fence and were sprinting off into the fields behind the café, past the edge of town.

"How did you hear—"

"Cyborg, Godai. Cyborg."

"Ah, yes, yes, right, right. Is that it?"

Hongo followed Godai's point with his eyes. On the horizon were Ryou and his pursuer. "No, but I can't ignore it. Leave those two to me. The creatures I heard were under the bridge to our right, just past the next row of supports."

"I'm on it."

* * *

 _Now…_

Not that he was aware of it, but Shouichi's enhanced three-in-one form had vanished along with his temporarily-restored memory. Left in Agito's default golden form, he was unable to keep up with the renewed onslaught of the Unknown. They hacked and slashed at him, blades, claws and beaks digging into his armour, needles of pain stabbing into him.

He rolled away, rising to one knee, panting. _What am I_ doing _here? I don't…remember…I was at the house with Mana and everyone, and…_

 _And…?_

He gave a start as the Unknown advanced again—but then they jerked to a halt. And backed away a step. Were they…trembling?

There was only one word he'd ever heard an Unknown say. "AGITO." Around when he first started to become this—it was how he'd known what it was called.

Now they craned their heads around to look behind them, back at the bridge they'd been fighting under earlier. In unison, in hushed, fearful tones, they hissed:

"KUUGA."

Then the vestigial wings hanging from their arms burst into full length and they took to the air, fleeing in an instant.

 _Why…?_ Shouichi stood up, taking a moment to catch his breath, scanning the horizon. _They had me beaten. What made them run?_

 _What could scare the Unknown like that?_

 _What's about to come round that corner?_ He could feel his heart pounding against his chest.

 _What, exactly…is 'Kuuga'?_

When Godai came tearing around the corner, he only saw one figure—some kind of horned, armoured creature in gold.

Shouichi, meanwhile, found himself suddenly being rushed by some kind of horned, armoured creature in red.

 _That must be the thing Hongo heard attacking someone,_ Godai thought. _Can't let it get away!_

 _Another Unknown?_ Shouichi thought. _Whatever it is, it's coming straight for me—_

Kuuga took a running jump and tackled Agito, the pair rolling into the shallows of the river, standing and exchanging opening punches, raindrops flying off of them.

Agito was only slid back slightly, while his own initial blow drove the wind out of Kuuga completely; Shouichi pressed this lead, hammering on his assailant's defences with both fists, trying not to give him a moment to counter. Godai swung a kick up, but Shouichi's leg intercepted it, hooking around his own and flipping him onto his back. He rolled away, getting up and keeping to a defensive stance, moving steadily back towards the bridge.

 _Whatever this thing is, it's strong…fast, too…_ Godai glanced up at the cars passing by overhead. _Too close to people to risk using my Rising forms, or anything above that._ He'd spent a lot of time during his and Ichijou's shared vacation thinking of names for all Kuuga's forms. He thought they were really cool. Ichijou thought they were all stupid. _But if I can get us over there…_

As they continued to fight, and he continued to take hits while barely landing any in return, he deliberately gave up ground, until they were right next to the bridge support. It didn't help that Agito's combat instincts were as flawless as ever, while Godai only had his own rather direct skills to rely on.

He'd made it, though. This was the spot he'd dumped his bag before transforming. He jumped back out of Agito's reach, kicking off the wall and landing by the bag, rummaging in it and producing a long wooden pole.

As he'd always done, he called out " _Super-Transform!"_ to switch to one of his specialised weapon forms. He didn't need to do this, it just felt right. This was another thing Ichijou thought was stupid. He thought a lot of things about Godai were stupid, but if someone as cool as that had fallen for his stupidity, then Godai was proud of it.

Shouichi gave a start. _Did it just speak Japanese? Maybe it's a different kinda thing to the Unknown._ He was even more surprised when Kuuga's colour changed from red to blue, his armour slimming down, the length of wood in his hands transforming into an ornate two-handed staff.

 _He looks lighter…he's probably faster now…okay!_ Shouichi smacked the button on the left side of his belt, his whole body seeming to ripple, before settling back to physical shape, blue-armoured to match Kuuga. With a burst of light, something shot out of his belt-buckle: A staff of his own, shorter than Kuuga's until with a shake he extended the blades on each end.

Godai circled Agito nervously, his weapon held high. Some of the Grongi had had form-changing powers like Kuuga. _Don't tell me we missed one…_

They clashed again, weapons crossing and sliding off each other. Agito spun and brought his staff down in an overhead arc, only to slice into nothing but the ground, the end of Kuuga's thudding into his stomach. He spun, trying to cover his open flank, but barely caught sight of where his opponent was before another blow smacked against the back of his head, sending him stumbling away.

No matter what he did, he couldn't catch Kuuga like this. None of the hits were too forceful, but they were beginning to add up.

Godai finally came to a halt, holding his staff close, waiting for the other to make a move. _We both went for speed…guess I'm faster._

Shouichi took a deep breath, holding his weapon out to the side. Then he began to spin it, flicking it from one hand to the other, to the left, to the right, all around his body, whipping up a localised windstorm and blowing it directly at Kuuga.

Godai tried to move in again, but the headwind Agito was generating was monstrous, and he couldn't make it a step; he could barely stay where he was. _Dragon Form can take him close-up, but if he won't let me_ get _close…all right…_

He suddenly ceased his resistance, letting the man-made gale hurl him back to where his bag lay, tossing the pole aside and taking out a revolver. This he had a special one-off license for from the police, for exactly this situation. He changed again, this time into the green, angular-patterned Pegasus Form, the pistol growing into its elaborate bowgun in his hand. Still lying against the bridge support, being buffeted by Agito's attack, he raised his arm, focused his now hugely magnified senses, and loosed a shot into Shouichi's shoulder, knocking him to the ground with a hiss of pain.

 _Couldn't see that projectile at all…_ Shouichi backed away, more of the needle-sharp darts digging into him as Kuuga continued firing. _Way faster than a bullet!_ He slapped the right side of his belt now, staff vanishing and blue armour becoming red, now materialising a gleaming longsword from his belt.

 _This form magnifies my senses…_ He settled into a low stance, waiting for the next shot. _There!_ He _just_ managed to spot the incoming needle, slicing right through the tiny object with an upward swing. Now he was getting the hang of it, deflecting the next volley became easy.

 _Well…never mind I guess._ Godai dropped the revolver and rummaged in the bag, producing the final object within: A short metal bar, with a steel ring welded around it about a third of the way up. _Hope he's outta forms, 'cause this is the last 'sideways' one I got before I gotta start going_ up _. And that won't be pretty._

" _Super-Transform!"_ The object he held now wasn't anything in particular; he'd made it specifically to use for this, as it was about the right shape to be morphed into the silver-and-purple, heavily-armoured Titan Form's sword. Holding the blade out to the side, he charged at Agito.

Shouichi didn't move from his position, his eyes locked on the incoming Kuuga. He drew his sword further back, flames beginning to dance around the blade, steam billowing from it as the rain splashed down over the unquenchable fire. _It's true this form makes me a little slower…_

Godai covered the last three steps in great bounds, his feet throwing up enormous sprays of muddy water, sword-arm slicing down at Agito—who was suddenly behind him, sword held out in front of him, a great burning pain erupting on Godai's side from where he'd been slashed.

… _but nowhere near as slow as that one makes you._ Shouichi straightened up as Kuuga toppled to the ground behind him with a strangled cry.

And then rose again, almost instantly, unarmed and back in his original red Mighty Form.

Shouichi turned with a sigh, returning to his own default golden state. "You gonna try this again, man? It won't go any better than last time…" _No choice, I guess._ He took a step in, swinging a spinning kick—

—which Kuuga deflected with a kick of his own, Shouichi bouncing painfully away, yelping and grabbing his aching leg. _What th—this strength is…completely different from before!_ In fact, now he looked, this wasn't quite the same red Kuuga as earlier. Gold highlights outlined his armour, and little spurts of electricity ran up and down his limbs every couple seconds.

"Hey, you," Kuuga unexpectedly said. "You're human, aren't you? I was wondering for a while, then you spoke just now…"

Shouichi looked up. "Uh…yeah. Wait…are you?"

"Of course!" Godai said indignantly. "I mean uh…wait…no, I'm…I'm Unidentified Life Form No. 4," he said in a portentous voice, making 'spooky' gestures with his fingers. "Definitely not…ah, okay." He let Kuuga's form fade, revealing his human body and giving a thumbs up. "Hi!"

Shouichi similarly reverted to his real self, grinning nervously. "This is kinda awkward…" He practically fell on his face as a realisation hit him. "The Unknown!"

"Huh?"

"I was fighting two monsters called Unknown, but, uh, they beat me and got away! They'll still be on the hunt for humans!"

"Oh!" Godai smacked his forehead. _"That's_ what Hongo heard…then I got here and all I saw was you…"

"Hongo?—ahh, later!" Shouichi grabbed Godai by the arm and dragged him back the way he'd originally come. "They're this way!"

Godai stumbled along to keep up at first, finally pushing Shouichi's hand off him and keeping pace. "How do you know? Can you sense them or—"

"Yeah!" Shouichi sensed the incoming barrage of follow-up questions. "Later, later! The first one's right by the riverbank up there!"

 _That's where Hongo is,_ Godai realised. _I hope he's okay…these things were giving this kinda-Kuuga-like guy trouble, and he's strong…if I really had to fight him in Rising Mighty, I honestly don't know who'd win…_

Driven to ever-greater sprinting speed by the sounds of battle they could hear from just beyond the hill obscuring this section of the bank, they crested it together, presented with the following scene:

Ashihara Ryou, looking like he'd been dragged through half the river, half-sitting by the bank and panting.

One of the bird Unknown, rolling uncontrollably into the river as if flung there by some great force.

Kamen Rider #1, taking a couple steps back for a longer run-up before launching himself at the downed monster.

"Hongo!" Godai called.

"Ashihara!" Shouichi called.

" _Rider Kick!"_ Hongo yelled, drowning them both out as he shot down out of the air, landing a direct hit on the Unknown, the angle of attack just right to _skim_ it all the way across the flooded river, where it exploded, far enough away to leave them all unharmed.

"And what's _tha—_ " Shouichi began.

"Later!" Godai echoed, giving a teasing wink and pat on the shoulder. "Let's get after the other one." The pair quickly delivered info-dumps to their respective friends as they ran past.

"Hi Mr. Hongo, there's a second monster, this guy can sense them, he transforms and stuff too, follow us!"

"Hey Ashihara! Gotta go after the other Unknown, I'll be back for you, hang in there!"

This left Ryou considerably more in the dark than anyone else, as the other three ran off back towards town, leaving him alone in the rain. "What…? And who the hell were… _Tsugami!"_

* * *

Hongo had reverted to normal as they'd got back to civilisation, and now Cyclone and BeatChaser streaked along the quiet evening streets towards where Shouichi could still detect the second Unknown.

"Hey, is this okay?" Shouichi protested, perched on the back of Hongo's bike and holding on for dear life. "I've got a bike too!"

"And where is it?" Hongo asked evenly.

"Uh…well…" Shouichi looked away, mumbling, "I forgot."

"I see."

"Hey, look, I really do—there!" He pointed to an underground car park.

"Your bike?"

" _The Unknown!"_

They cruised in, slowing down as they squinted to catch sight of any movement in the darkness between the rows upon rows of silent cars.

Then one car was shredded completely in half, the Unknown they'd been chasing tearing right through the middle, landing in a crumpled heap right in their path. From behind a pillar came rhythmic, regular footsteps.

"Another friend of yours?" Shouichi 'whispered'—though he was so bad at lowering his voice it barely qualified as such.

Godai shook his head, as did Hongo. _Ichimonji isn't even back in the country yet…so who…_

The figure that emerged into the glare of their headlights, stalking towards the Unknown was…Agito.

Gold armour, two-horned crest atop its head, transformation belt—exactly identical to the form Shouichi took when he changed. His jaw dropped. _Who…?!_

Apparently this Agito had already dealt a great deal of damage to the Unknown: Just then, the monster gave a piercing screech, a ghostly halo swirling into view above its head. With a final spasm as its life give out, it slumped to the floor, the resulting explosion stopping just barely short of the two bikes. Hongo flung both arms around his younger companions to shield them from the shockwave with his mechanically-enhanced body.

As soon as he could, Shouichi tore himself away, running up to the victorious Agito, who was already turning to depart.

"Hey!" He called. "Hey!" He made it up to them, shaking them by the shoulder. "Who are you? Look," he started gushing, "I'm like you, so don't you think it'd be great if we could sit down and talk, maybe over tea—"

The Agito's belt blinked, and their transformed body began to fade, slowly but surely revealing the human underneath.

"…what…?" His hand fell as he recognised her face. "…but…you're…" _Who? I still don't remember my past, but I feel like…I…know her…?_

She stared at him with blank, unfeeling eyes for a second, then turned on her heel and kept walking.

Godai and Hongo caught up to him, joining him in gazing after the departing woman. "You know her?" Godai asked.

"My…sister…" Shouichi whispered. Suddenly he lunged a step forwards, hand reaching out as if to grasp her across the already-great distance between them, yelling, _"Yukina!"_

* * *

 _I'm actually not sure how long this arc will be, other than 'probably a bit longer than the Kuuga arc'._


	5. Agito II: Deep Breath

**Agito Chapter**

 **Part 2: Deep Breath**

 _I don't know why there's so much playing with time in this arc. It just seems to work._

 _And now, observe as I realise how large Agito's cast actually is and run around trying to introduce everyone while still making the story eventful enough to be entertaining. Don't worry, though, along with the larger cast this arc won't be as short as Kuuga, so there'll be more time to get to know everyone._

* * *

Cautiously, Shouichi poked his head in through the screen door, glancing around the quiet house. Nobody seemed to be around.

He snuck into the living room, a little spooked. "Guys…? Mana? Professor? Taichi?"

"Shouichi!" They'd just been in the kitchen—his middle-aged…landlord? Carer? Whatever, and his son, came scuttling in, grabbing hold of him. "Where have you been?" Professor Misugi asked frantically, shaking him by the shoulders. "What happened?"

"I…don't know," Shouichi said nervously, looking away. "I don't remember. I was just…in this…cold, wet place suddenly…I don't know how I got there."

"Wait…you don't remember…" Misugi took a step back. "Before you left, you said you'd recovered your memories of your life before we took you in. That's gone now, right?"

"I said that?" Shouichi asked, pointing to himself. "Well…uh…I guess it's gone, yeah. Sorry."

"It's been two days, ya jerk!" Taichi grumbled, kicking him in the shins and slumping down on the couch.

"Sorry, sorry!" Shouichi laughed. "Look, I'll make you a cake this evening, okay?"

Taichi leaned forwards, doing his best adult impression, one hand on his chin. "A _real_ cake?"

"Of course!"

"If it has vegetables in, it doesn't count."

"Aw, come on…" Still grinning, Shouichi ambled over to the stairs, calling up, "Mana! Mana? You around?"

"Shouichi…" Misugi pulled him back. "Mana is…gone too."

"…eh?"

"We don't know where she went. Looking for you, maybe."

"Mana is…" Shouichi fell against the wall, shell-shocked. _Mana…and Yukina…what is going on?_

* * *

 _Two days ago…_

Mana crouched behind the big row of bushes that lined the park. _What's happening to me?_

 _I've always had…I guess some kind of ESP, but this is…_

Over the last week, any time someone had bullied her, spoke angrily or been at all unkind to her, a vicious invisible force had attacked them. _I thought my powers were cool, but if they just attack people…and…and…!_

Occasionally Detective Hikawa called her in to the police station to use her ESP for some investigation or another. Including the never-closed case of her father's murder. And last time, this other cop—Hojo—had been working the case too.

" _Given the circumstances, and matching the cause of death up with recent victims of such incidents, it seems likely your father was killed by someone using psychic powers._

" _They may not have even known they were doing it."_

 _Did I…? Please, no…_

"Yo, kid."

"I'm seventeen," she mumbled automatically, her eyes flicking up lazily to take in the unkempt man standing before her.

"Whatever, kid. Lemme get to the point. I'm here because you need me."

"Go away."

He snapped his fingers, and the bush next to her uprooted itself, dumping onto the ground. She stared at it, then up at him. "Got your attention?"

Slowly, she stood to look him in the face. "You're like me…"

"Yup. It's hard to control, right? You hurt people by accident…" He extended a hand. "Name's Katsuhiko. I'll take you to a safe place for us. How bout it?"

* * *

The 'safe place' was an entire floor of an apartment block Katsuhiko and some friends of his had rented out. It was pretty comfortable, large kitchen, fish-tank, and more couches than she'd seen in her life.

Aside from the two of them, there was currently only one other inhabitant; a baby-faced, energetic young man called Koji. Apparently there were many more in their group, but they tended to come and go, and many of them had finally settled back into their own accommodation after…some incident they kept skirting around describing.

 _Wait…incident…_ Mana turned back to Katsuhiko. "What did you call yourselves again?"

He looked up from the coffee he was stirring. "Uh, the Akatsuki members. I guess."

"Akatsuki…that's a boat that had an accident out at sea, not long ago!" she exclaimed, suddenly realising where she'd heard the name. _Actually…wasn't Mr. Hikawa the one who saved most of the passengers?_

"Well…yeah. A lot of things happened, and, uh. We ended up with these powers."

"I wasn't on the boat, though," she pointed out.

He nodded. "Yeah. It's like…psychics like us are the next evolution, right? Of humanity or whatever. They happen on their own here and there. Just, on the boat we kinda had that evolution sped up, so a bunch of us got powers all at once."

"It's all relative, though," Koji chimed in from across the room, waving the spoon he was eating yoghurt with. "Mine still haven't 'awoken'." He shrugged, taking another spoonful. "Kino says it'll happen soon though."

Mana walked over and sat down opposite him. "Kino?"

"Dr. Kino," Koji said enthusiastically. "He's an awesome guy! Kind of like our leader, I guess. He always knows what to do."

"Except when we're being killed off," came a growl from the doorway as it was flung open. "Then he doesn't do jack shit." A tall woman, scowling behind her glasses and jacket collar, stomped inside and slumped down on the couch.

"Masumi!" Koji practically leapt over to her. "You came back!"

"Not for long," she said, rolling her eyes and turning away from him. "Just to tell you this. The Unknown aren't slowing down. Want to guess how many of us are left?" She held up a finger for each person mentioned. "Us three. Kino. And three more." She flicked a glance over at Mana, and raised one more. The eight extended fingers waved back and forth. "You feeling lucky?"

"Figured," Katsuhiko sighed. "Not a team player? Your powers are pretty developed. You an' me together, might could hold off the Unknown."

She shook her head. "You don't know what you're talking about. You can't stop them. I'm gonna go at least tell the others." And just as soon as she arrived, she was gone.

"What was all that?" Mana asked, suddenly panicking. "You're being killed? By the _Unknown_?" _I can't stay here._

"Calm down," came another voice from the doorway. This time, a square-jawed man in black entered, pocketing his sunglasses and casting a stern look around the room. "You're no less safe here than anywhere else." He bowed slightly to the other two in turn. "Good to see you both well. Masumi's…as blunt as ever, I see. I got here right after her, but didn't want to make things awkward, so I waited until now to come in."

"Kino!" If anything, Koji was even more excited than before. "I'm so glad you're here! She's wrong, isn't she? We can survive, right?"

"It's possible." Kino approached Mana, looking past her out the window as he addressed her. "The Unknown fear humanity's potential, if we continue to evolve. They hunt those with powers like ours. I didn't think it would get this bad…I will have to stay here more, and work less."

 _It does make sense,_ Mana thought. _Mr. Hikawa's theory was that the Unknown were targeting psychics, and one came straight for me once…if Shouichi hadn't been there…_

 _But if that's true, I definitely can't go home. My powers acting on their own,_ and _the Unknown…I'd be a danger to everybody._

* * *

The next morning, she stood outside the apartment building, watching the sun come up, and the occasional car flash by.

 _If an Unknown does attack me, Shouichi might sense it, too. I hope that doesn't happen. I can't be near him right now._

"Excuse me."

This time, the new arrival was someone familiar to her. He was middle-aged, wearing a rumpled suit, leaning heavily against the fence behind her.

"You're…" Her memory of him was strangely hazy, but he'd appeared before her and said something about 'unlocking her potential'—ever since that day, her ESP had been much more potent. _Is that why I developed telekinesis too?_

 _Should I explain the name-change?_ He wondered. _No, no need to complicate things._ "Tetsuya," was the only name he gave, shaking her hand. "I'm sorry if I confused you before. I was pressed for time." He looked off towards the horizon. "Mana, the power I awoke in you has now reached its peak. It is needed."

"You need me to do something?"

"It will help Shouichi greatly."

"So you knew him. Before."

"I saw him recently. He's recovered his memory."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well, then he can tell you all about it himself. I am very busy. Please, come with me."

"Okay, but who _are_ you?" she demanded. "And don't 'Tetsuya' me. You know what I mean."

He looked a little sad. "I am your people's…saviour."

* * *

He brought her to the nearest hospital, threading his way in towards the back. Everyone simply seemed to wave them through when he mumbled a few placatory words, barely registering their presence; light and sound got a little indistinct as he spoke. Eventually, they stepped into the mortuary. No-one else was around.

Tetsuya approached one of the large drawers set into the wall, beckoning Mana over. "I know you are almost an adult, but I will warn you: As you would expect, there is a dead body in here." He pulled it open, reaching for the sheet.

Mana reached out, stopping him. "What do I have to do?"

He looked her in the eye. "The truest expression of your power is a restorative one. You can bring this person back from the dead."

"I can…?"

"You will only be able to do this once; it will use up this heightened state your powers are in currently. Afterwards, you will return to the low level you were at before."

She took a deep breath, releasing his wrist. "I'm fine with that." _If that happens, I might stop accidentally hurting people._

He withdrew the sheet. The corpse beneath was not as grisly-looking as Mana had feared, but the head and neck were still not a pleasant sight. "Who is she?" she asked.

"This is Yukina…Shouichi's sister." Tetsuya backed away, giving her space. "Like Shouichi, her body contains the Seed of Agito. In order for humanity to survive, more people need to become Agito. So, please."

Mana held out her hand over the body. "I'll…try." She closed her eyes, focusing all her mental power on the deceased woman. The overhead lights dimmed, as if their brightness had been drained into the sudden intense brilliance surrounding Yukina. She could feel the power leaving her, filling up and rejuvenating the body before her. That moment seemed to stretch on and on and on—

* * *

" _She will wake up soon. Thank you._

" _What you do now—which home you return to—is up to you."_

* * *

The three Akatsuki members looked up in surprise as Mana entered, waving an awkward hello.

"Hey!" Koji was happy as ever to see just about anyone.

Katsuhiko grunted. "I figured you'd gone home."

She shook her head, sitting at one of the tables. "There are still things I want to learn. About these powers, and myself. I don't think I'll stay here forever, but…a while longer."

* * *

 _Now…_

Detective Hikawa closed the door behind him, taking a seat opposite Ozawa's desk. Omura was already in her office, flipping through today's newspaper. The three of them comprised the G3 unit: Ozawa had designed the G3 system and its upgraded counterpart, the G3-X, and took tactical command of combat operations; Hikawa was the suit's pilot and tasked with directly combatting the Unknown; and Omura…helped. They were humanity's first and last line of defence against the Unknown. Last official line, anyway; attitudes had changed, and the police force was not so accepting of Agito's help as they had been of Unidentified Life-form No.4 in the fight against the Grongi. Operations had even been attempted to capture Agito. Mostly by Hojo, who seemed determined to make himself the archenemy of every decent person he came across.

"So, you called us here for a reason, I guess," Hikawa said, making himself comfortable. "And not an alert, or we wouldn't be sitting around eating biscuits."

"When did I say you could eat my biscuits?" Ozawa snapped, sitting up straight.

"I was just getting your attention. Nobody's—" Hikawa swatted Omura's hand away from the open tin. "Nobody's eating your biscuits. What's up?"

"G3 Unit's getting a fourth member. Just got the transferral paperwork." She waved a folder in the air.

"If Hojo's pulling some stunt again…" Hikawa grumbled.

"Thousand yen says it's him," Omura said.

"Keep your damn money," Ozawa said as she flipped open the folder, spreading the contents across the desk. "I said the same—not as politely—but no. We've got a genuine war hero on our hands. Frontline against the Unidentified Life Forms from start to end and lived."

"Ichijou Kaoru…" Hikawa looked up, tapping the file. "I've heard of him! I mean, how could I not?" The emotion was rising in his voice, his expression becoming one of reverence. "I read the case files…he got one of them himself, right between the eyes. _And_ kept a decent arrest rate with human criminals at the same time. I've looked up to him ever since I first heard about him…"

"Well, that's. Good, I guess." Ozawa sat back, finding her subordinate's overenthusiasm a little creepy. "Anyway, I guess he's going to be our monster expert, or something." She sighed. "Just hope he isn't some egotistical creep…give a guy a medal and he becomes a hell of an annoyance for the ladies."

"Wouldn't worry about that," Hikawa said. "Something else I heard—he came out in front of a room full of crusty old policemen. Just stared them down. Nobody dared to be a jerk about it."

"Badass," Omura agreed, nodding.

"Nobody asked you," Ozawa responded instantly.

"You don't think it's cool?" Hikawa asked, eyebrow raised.

"No, I agree entirely with what he said," she clarified. "I just disagree with Omura on principle."

"Thanks…I…guess…" Omura muttered.

"Erm…excuse me." They all gave a start at the voice, swivelling to face the door. A tall, kind-faced detective, his light civilian jacket a stark contrast to their uniforms, was standing halfway inside. "To tell the truth, I didn't 'stare anyone down'. I delivered my case report, made the announcement and, as my shift was over, went home." He crossed the room, extending his hand to Ozawa. "Sergeant."

She shook it. "Detective Ichijou, I assume? Take a seat."

Ichijou sat next to Hikawa, then paused, looking curiously over at his junior detective, who seemed to be frozen. "Um…" He waved a hand in front of the starstruck man's face, after a moment jolting him back to reality.

"Ah! Sorry! I just never thought I'd get to work with you, sir!"

"Calm down. We're the same rank, right?"

"Right! Right, yes. Sir. Yes. I mean. Not sir? Detective. Ichijou. Yes. Thank you."

"Are you done?"

"…yes."

"In any case, welcome to the team," Ozawa cut in. "I look forward to working with y—" The alarm overhead blared. "And that's our cue. Guess you'll learn how we operate first-hand, Detective. G3 Unit, move out!"

* * *

 _Ten minutes ago…_

For the hundredth time, Shouichi trudged up the street Mana had last been seen on. For the hundredth time, he found nothing. It was getting late, so with a weary step, he turned and headed for home. Maybe by tomorrow someone who'd seen her would get in touch thanks to the missing-person posters he'd put up.

He turned the corner into a side-alley—and practically walked into his sister, almost falling in surprise. "Yukina!" He put himself in her way again. "Hey! It's me, y'know? It's me! Your brother! It's hard to remember anything, but I know you!" He was a hundred percent sure even from his vague memory of her, but her usually-animated face was completely blank. She barely looked at him. She was wearing a simple tracksuit and running shoes, which he seemed to recall as unlike her, too.

She just pushed him aside and kept on walking, without a word.

 _Actually, that expression, and the way she's moving…reminds me of that kind of 'Agito trance' I used to go into, that made me fight at first, before I knew what I was doing. It stopped taking hold of me so much when I started learning and understanding more…these days it's more like I'm working_ with _it._

 _But she's…completely in its control? Like there's no human mind for it to compete with? How could that happen to someone as strong-willed as her?_

Before he could chase after her, both of them were brought to a physical and mental halt, as a familiar feeling resonated in their minds. In unison, their heads spun to look over their shoulders. _Unknown! And close!_

 _Very_ close, in fact. Shouichi could hear its wet, monstrous hiss as it stalked through the shadows towards him, its form still obscured.

 _I'm the target this time?_ He squared his stance, preparing to transform—only to freeze up when it stepped out into the dwindling light. It was a towering, dark grey fish-like horror, its face split open across from its mouth, wing-like crests sweeping out across its shoulders. It raised a staff adorned with crazily-sweeping blades in his direction, taking another hideous breath.

He couldn't remember where, but he _had_ seen this one before. And it terrified him. He didn't know why, or what had happened, but just seeing this monster, he was more scared than he'd ever been in his life. Screaming, he fell back, his intent to fight forgotten, scrambling away and falling every couple of seconds, cowering behind the nearest wall he could find.

Still ignoring him, Yukina walked right past him to face off with the Unknown, a smoothly-designed black and gold belt shimmering into existence about her waist. Both hands dropped to her left side at once, crossing over, before she thrust the right into the air and drew it back down to her shoulder. Then, slowly, calmly exhaling, she moved it further and further out until her arm until it was fully extended.

" _Transform!"_


	6. Agito III: Rider-Action 24-7

**Agito Chapter**

 **Part 3: Rider-Action 24/7**

 _Writing a story with so many Kamen Riders makes me realise how weird it is that all these people happen to be motorcyclists, but that they all have this method of transportation makes getting the cast places so much easier, so I'm not complaining._

* * *

Agito, the golden horned warrior—Yukina, his sister—flew at the split-mouthed Unknown, driving her first strike into it with all the momentum of her lunge. For a second, it seemed to be affected by the attack, then simply rocked back into place, the two grappling with each other, feet sliding back and forth on the hard pavement.

Now it wasn't coming any closer, Shouichi had managed to calm his panicked mind and focus on the scene before him, though his fingers still clung white-knuckled to the wall he was crouching behind. This Unknown, he now noticed, was leaking water, leaving a trail everywhere it walked. And though he still couldn't recall where he'd seen it before, his all-consuming fear of it seemed to be justified—despite Yukina's effortless defeat of the average Unknown he'd seen not long ago, this one was overpowering her. None of her blows made much of an impression, and soon the monster had raked a powerful sweep of its staff down her body, throwing off a shower of sparks and marking Agito's armour-plated exterior.

 _Have to help—maybe with both of us…_ Shouichi tried to stand, tried to summon his transformation belt, but his body didn't respond. He couldn't make himself. Not for the only family member he knew about in the world, as a heavy kick smacked against her helmet, he couldn't make himself move from that hiding-spot, and he hated himself for it.

Yukina was clearly fighting a losing battle, but the inhuman will that propelled her body cared not, her stance unwavering no matter how much damage she took, incapable of registering pain or injury.

Then a motorcycle helmet bounced off the Unknown's head, giving it pause. It sniffed the air, head slowly turning. " _A-GI-TO,_ " it croaked.

"Almost, buddy." Ashihara Ryou swaggered towards them, shaking his hands to loosen them up. The previous day he'd looked a mess after so long on the run, but today he was back on fine form, hair fully spiked up, jacket gleaming in the evening light. "Man, you Unknown really are a pain, all that buzzing in my head…can't ignore you."

"Ashihara!" Shouichi managed to vocalise. "This—this one's different! Be careful!"

"Yeah, never been good at careful," Ryou muttered, breaking into a run, each hand hovering over the opposite shoulder. " _Transform!"_ he commanded, bringing them down, and there it was, the other him, clawing its way out of his mind, slithering out to engulf him, bursting into the world, transfiguring him into the 'incomplete Agito' Gills: An amphibious green thing of fangs and claws and spikes.

He charged, taking a flying leap into the Unknown, which jutted out an arm in his path, folding him over it and dumping him in front of it. Still on the ground, he managed to turn in time to block its staff by extending glistening bio-blades from his forearms, crossing them protectively in front of them. As the Unknown pressed down on his guard, he glanced back at the Agito behind him. _Shouichi is over there somewhere, so from what he told me, this must be his sister…the hell's he doing not helping?_

The Unknown reached down with its free hand, dragging him up to within easier striking reach. For a moment he ended up face to face with Yukina. Whenever he was Gills, unless he focused very hard anything he said tended to come out as an unintelligible growl, but he wondered, _Any ideas?_

As it turned out, she had one, but not with his best interests at heart—he dug his claws into the Unknown's forearm suddenly, loosening its grip for a second so he could duck just to avoid Yukina's two-handed swing as, now in Agito's red form, brought her sword to bear on the Unknown. The blade clashed against its staff, and she pushed it back while keeping up the lock, Ryou rolling away, retracting his blades in order to produce his other wrist-extension: Spined, prehensile tentacles. He hated using them, the sensation as they snaked out of his body was extremely unpleasant, but the situation was perfect here.

He sent both flying at once, wrapping them around one of the Unknown's arms and tugging it away from its weapon, leaving it with only a one-handed grip to push against Yukina with. Meanwhile she leaned in, her current form pumping extra strength into her heavier-armoured right arm, finally shoving the Unknown's weapon away and in the same stroke dealing a solid slash across its chest. It reeled for a moment—only a moment, such was its resilience—but in that moment, Ryou was already sailing through the air, the wicked curved blade extending from his heel angled down towards where its neck joined its shoulder, aimed to split the bone in two.

And then it was recovered, and he knew he'd been too slow, and its hand flicked up and caught him by the ankle and swung him down into the ground, cracking the concrete; and Yukina pressed in again, but the staff flashed and sparks flew once more, and she fell next to him.

* * *

 _Five minutes ago…_

The newly-enlarged G3 Unit scrambled for the parking lot, where the armoured G-Trailer squatted in its enormous designated space. Ozawa jumped in, then Ichijou, then Hikawa…

"Where's…?" the last of the three began, before Omura ran up behind them, arms waving frantically.

"Hold it! Hold up! Wait! Trouble! Guys!" he wheezed, skidding to a halt and leaning a hand on the vehicle. "Second…Unknown…" He tossed a printout with the two locations at them, Ozawa reaching down and snatching it out of the air.

"One by the waterfront, one at the festival downtown…" She bit her lip. "We don't have the manpower for both at once…"

"Maybe." Ichijou clambered over them and out onto the tarmac, shoving Omura into the passenger seat. "The waterfront's further, so you head out for that one now. I'll take the festival."

"How?" she called down. "With the Unknown, even the anti-Unidentified-Life-Form bullets don't—"

"No time to talk! You get going!" he replied, tapping his watch and heading back into the police station. He had something in mind, something he'd been shown on his tour of the place before meeting the unit. After a few awkward questions and odd looks, he found the right storage cupboard, tearing open a taped-shut cardboard box to reveal an array of neatly-arranged pieces of silver and blue armour. The faceplate stared up at him; two horns, joined by a smaller central spike. Like Godai.

They'd told him the original-model G3 suit was decommissioned, lacking the power to oppose the Unknown, replaced by the upgraded G3-X that Hikawa now wore.

 _Well, better than nothing._

As he began digging the pieces of the suit out of their box he dug his phone out of his pocket, quickly dialling his most-called number.

"Godai? Where are you right now?"

* * *

"…gotcha. I'll meet you there. Stay safe." Godai, who had been waiting outside Shouichi's house for him to come home, hung up and turned to Hongo, who had been watching him expectantly.

"Shall I come with you?" the veteran Rider asked, standing away from the fence he'd been resting against.

"No," Godai said, "with both of us it should be fine. But there's another one by the docks—can you go there and make sure the other police guy is okay?"

"Will do." Just before helmets lowered onto heads, they exchanged a quick thumbs-up.

* * *

 _Now…_

Before the Unknown could get any closer to Yukina and Ryou, heavy projectile impacts raked across its back. Across the road, Hikawa advanced implacably, clad in the heavy-set G3-X powersuit, keeping its two-handed gatling gun steady and firing in controlled bursts. After taking a few more rounds, without seeming to care much, the Unknown started deflecting the shots with quick strokes of its staff, emitting another thin-voiced hiss in his direction.

Hikawa quickly surveyed the situation. _If Agito and…_ He'd seen Gills before, but had always thought of it as an adversary. Here it seemed to be on Agito's side, though, and there was nobody and nothing in the world, not even Ichijou, that Hikawa idolised as much as Agito. Also, the two of them seemed to be protecting his good friend Tsugami Shouichi, which was nice. _…if Agito and that thing together couldn't beat it, I'm not going to have much of a chance…_

But, he reminded himself, the Unknown had never seemed too interested in killing him. He wasn't a 'chosen one'. _If it's just me here, it might not fight with killing intent._

Using the helmet's built-in headset to magnify his voice, he broadcasted to those before him, "Agito! Tsugami! …green thing! I'm going to buy you a few seconds to get away!" He brought up something from the suit's internal storage, attaching it to the end of the gatling gun: A miniaturised rocket warhead.

This time, when the Unknown blocked, it simply caused an early detonation, blasting itself with heat and fury, vanishing in the mighty conflagration.

Obscured from all by the heat haze and smoke, Ryou took the chance to return to human form, hauling Shouichi to his feet and roughly dragging him off, hissing at the pain shooting through his own body.

Yukina glanced for a moment over at the G3-X suit, then down at her own body, finally registering her injuries. The light of Agito fading, the swept away, vanishing down a backstreet.

Hikawa, meanwhile, stood his ground, waiting as the Unknown stalked unharmed out of the flames towards him, rasping wordlessly. Beating fear back from his mind, he kept himself rooted to the spot, raising his gun.

* * *

Cheers turned to screams as a hard-shelled, claw-armed Unknown stalked towards the festival proceedings, rows upon rows of teeth parting, swaying back forth, scanning the fleeing crowds of partygoers. Finally, its gaze came to rest on an infant being carried in her mother's arms. This one, though still small, was already changing; if left alive, it would become something more. This could not be allowed.

The Unknown made a quick praying motion with its hands, then picked up the pace and made a beeline straight for them, shoving aside slower humans and overturning parked vehicles to reach them faster.

Just as one of the great, jagged crab-claws reached out for its victim, a red blur smacked into it from the side, dragging it away. A sharp blow beat it back, and Kuuga settled his stance, keeping himself between the monstrous creature and anyone else around.

Their run halted as they craned to get a better view, they whispered, hoping— _It's No.4! From the news! It's come back to protect us! I saw it on TV! It saved my cousin once—_

"It's not safe here!" Godai called back to them. "Everyone please, get out of here!" This simple urging was all it took, and the crowds quickly dispersed, leaving him alone with the Unknown.

If only it were that simple; it was as strong as the others he'd seen, and quickly began to take the upper hand on him. His first solid hit on it sent a jarring pain up his arm as his fist struck against its unyielding shell, and he drew back, hissing; it took this moment to latch its wicked pincers around his throat, lifting him off the ground as both his hands pulled desperately at its grip, trying to loosen it.

" _This is sad."_

A man of depth and shadows stood before him; at least, some indefinite distance in front of him, not seeming confined to one particular physical spot. His face was very young, his eyes incomprehensibly old.

" _You are Kuuga. You are the most powerful being on this Earth, after me. Yet you are about to fall to one of my common warriors. How can you restrict yourself like this?"_

Godai found that he was at once both with himself and not. He was still fighting for his life, straining two-handed to try and stop the Unknown pressing in and decapitating him. But at the same time he was somewhere else, somewhere indistinct, talking to the young man of shadows.

In this other place, he said, "I'm right in the middle of town. If I fight in a higher form, everyone living nearby will be in danger."

" _And what matters that?"_ the man asked, seeming genuinely confused. _"There are so many of them. There is only one Kuuga. You must consider yourself more important, no? Humans are all the same. By what logic do you value their lives above your own?"_

"This logic." Godai held out a thumbs-up.

" _What?"_

"I made a promise. A lot of promises, actually, over the years." He gave an earnest smile. "They all come back to this—'I will protect everyone's smile'."

" _That's childish."_

"Sure is. But when you say that, you mean 'impossible', right? Too unlikely…too out there…just a dream." He lifted his gaze to the sky. "But imagine doing everything you wanted to do as a kid. Wouldn't that be great?" His arm extended further, almost shoving the thumbs-up in the other man's face. "Do you know what this is?"

"…"

"From ancient Rome, my teacher told me. Affirmation. A sign for those who have done the proper thing. The reason I'm always doing it is to remind myself. _'Become someone worthy of this. Become someone who can protect everyone's smiles.'_ That was his challenge to me. _'Don't you think that's a truly wonderful thing?'_

"And I do."

" _You…I don't think I like you."_ The ethereal man gave a disappointed, fatherly sigh. _"I love all my children, but your existence…it bothers me."_

He snapped his fingers and was gone, and Godai was back with himself, the Unknown's claws biting in, struggling to survive.

Then something bit into its shoulder with a flash and a puff of smoke, its arm twitching. Then three more somethings. Its arm spasmed and it dropped Godai. He quickly put some distance between them, eyes alighting on his saviour; G3, advancing with its pistol levelled, keeping up a steady rate of fire.

 _I guess this is that guy Shouichi was talking about?_ Godai decided. _Uh…what was it…_ "Mr…Hikawa?"

"You should be so lucky," came a much more familiar voice.

"Kaoru!"

Ichijou kept his weapon trained on the Unknown as Godai ran to his side. "This is an outdated G3, sorry. Too weak to fight the Unknown, apparently."

"Well, so's this form, and I can't take it any higher in a place like this."

"This will be interesting, then."

"Yeah, but…" Godai put a hand on Ichijou's shoulder. "Just once, we get to really fight together."

"I mean, sure. Try not to die and it might even be a nice memory someday."

They ran in together, Ichijou firing off another burst of shots to let Godai duck around behind the Unknown, and they struck from opposite sides. It blocked both, spinning a half-turn and scoring a slash on each of them, taking them off their feet. It moved forward and drove a stamp down onto G3's chestplate, warning lights blaring in Ichijou's face as the armour's energy supply rapidly drained; the Unknown was already turning again, raking both claws down Godai's body as he rushed in from behind. He fell back with a pained cry, crashing through parade stands. Pursuing him, it raised its arm to strike again, but was stopped by a sharp pain in its side: Ichijou had snapped on another of G3's armaments, a high-frequency vibrating blade, mounted on his left arm, digging it in and cracking the shell.

The Unknown growled and smacked him away, but by the time it turned its attention back to Godai, he was already laying into it, slamming a side-kick into the weak spot Ichijou had made, sending it stumbling away with a screech of pain.

They regrouped, standing side-by-side again, supporting each other. The creature attacked two-handed, and they each caught one, heels digging tracks into the earth as they shoved it back. Two voices yelling in unison, they charged after it.

* * *

By the time Hongo pulled up, two streets down from the waterfront, it was over. The Agito and the fearsome Unknown had gone, and all he saw was the G3 Unit, the other two helping a dazed and bruised Hikawa out of his armour and carrying him back towards the truck.

 _Too late…_ Admonishing himself for his slowness, he turned and headed back for Shouichi's house.

* * *

A small fire flickered at the top of the hill, lighting up the deserted festival-grounds: The only remnant of the crab Unknown. At the bottom, the lines of flattened grass above them marking their slide down here, Godai and Ichijou lay in opposite directions, the tops of their heads almost touching, both taking heaving breaths; Godai had returned to human and was grinning an idiot grin, and Ichijou had levered the dented and cracked G3 helmet off.

"That was fun."

"Sure. Let's never do it again."

"Aww."

* * *

Omura flitted back and forth between the two injured officers while Ozawa glared over her desk at both of them. "Ichijou, I appreciate you taking swift action but you should have consulted me!"

"There wasn't time," he grumbled.

"There would have been if you'd had the idea sooner! And Hikawa, try not to lose next time. You'll make us look bad."

"Yes'm," Hikawa mumbled, face turned towards the ceiling with his eyes closed.

She paused. "…I'm glad you're both alive. I'll put together a report."

The door rattled and someone pushed in, ducking past a frustrated pair of officers who were trying in vain to keep him out. "It'll just be for a minute," he assured them with a wink, closing the door in their faces and turning to the four within. He was a round-faced little man who permanently looked like there was a joke you weren't getting, wearing a sand-coloured flat-cap and matching button-up jacket, a bright red scarf between them. "Sorry to intrude, just hoping I could get a few pictures? My magazine would love it if we could do a piece on the G3 unit that's always protecting us."

 _Did he just…walk in past security?_ "And you are?" Ozawa studied him carefully, sure there was more to him than the amused expression. Something in that tiny twitch as he crossed the room. It reminded her of old soldiers she'd seen.

He gave a little grin. "Ichimonji Hayato. Pleasure to meetcha."


	7. Agito IV: God and the Machine

**Agito Chapter**

 **Part 4: God and the Machine**

 _In my mind this story has a theme song and it's JAM Project's Transformers EVO, which is both awesome and responsible for me finally realising that it's entirely possible to make "transform" sound as cool as "henshin" with the right attitude and I should just bloody well translate everything that should be translated._

* * *

Mana sat opposite Koji, watching him eat. He was tiny, but sometimes it seemed like he never stopped eating. "So your dad was researching psychics?"

"Uh—yes. Before…"

He looked up. "You're lucky. Not having parents."

She wanted to be insulted but it was such a strange thing to say she could barely manage confused. "What? What is that?"

"I come from a long line of doctors," he said, stabbing at the scraps remaining on his plate. "So they were always pushing me to be the same, 'till I got out. Never wanted it. That's the way it is with parents, expectations. But _you_ can do anything you want. You know how much training you need to be a doctor? You think I'm spending so many years of my life on something I got no interest in?"

"So what _do_ you want to do?"

"Dunno," he admitted. "But that's okay. I'm young. I got time. Man," he said, waving his fork in her direction while wiping his mouth, "I wish my powers would develop already. Jealous of you for that, too." He sat back, looking dreamy. "When I awaken…I'm gonna go visit my folks. Show them what I can do. Something I'm good at."

"But you're not."

"I know I'm not psychic _yet_ —"

"No, I mean…" She rolled the phrasing back and forth in her mind, trying to put her feeling into words. "Just because you or I or anyone else is psychic, that's not being _good_ at something. That's just the way I happen to be. It's not like I worked for this. I didn't better myself, it just happened. So it's not like you'd be showing to them you made something out of yourself. Just that you got lucky."

Her words seemed to bother him, and he made a half-turn away, slouching over his chair. "You're a real buzzkill, aintcha…"

The door burst open and Masumi stumbled in, shoving Katsuhiko and Dr. Kino away as they rose to help. "They're all…"

The room fell silent, waiting for her to continue. She looked tired, dishevelled, haunted.

"All dead…the Unknown had already been there…the only survivors from that boat are in this room—" She trailed off, coming to a halt. Her body shuddered, then _melted_ away with an all-too-brief shriek, blood and human remnants pooling on the floor. What remained, where she'd been standing, dripping with the last vestiges of what had once been a human woman, was the split-mouthed, dripping fish Unknown.

"Bastard…" Katsuhiko hissed, getting in front of the younger members and levitating the furniture between them and the Unknown as a barrier. "She didn't even know you were in there, right? This is how you've been picking us off…" As it started smashing through to reach them, he shouted across the room, "Dr. Kino, get behind me!"

Kino didn't acknowledge his words, instead looking at the Unknown. "So it's time? Very well."

"The hell are you—" There were bigger, or rather closer and sharper, things to worry about. "When I break for the door, stick with me!" Katsuhiko released his telekinetic hold on the furniture, now showering the Unknown with every piece of cutlery in the room. In the moment of confusion this brought on, he grabbed Mana and Koji and dashed for the exit. Something flashed by him as he passed the monster, but he was pretty sure he avoided it, the three of them bolting through the door and down the stairs towards the apartment complex's main door.

Back in the group's living space, the Unknown held up its bladed staff, observing for a moment the blood coating one of the tips. It turned to Kino, who gestured to the door.

"After you."

* * *

They made it barely ten paces out of the building before Katsuhiko collapsed, _now_ feeling the gaping wound the Unknown had carved into him. He slapped their hands away as they tried to pull him up, propping himself against the roadside fence.

"Get on out of here."

"What?"

"You can't outrun them carrying me, _go_."

"We can't just leave you to them!" Mana insisted.

"You can and will," he growled, "or do I have to use my power to chase you off?"

The Unknown tore the front door off its hinges, emerging from the building, Kino strolling after it. Fear won out. With one last regretful glance back, Mana and Koji ran.

The Unknown stomped towards him, its wet feet making a hideous slapping on the pavement with every step. Then Kino put a hand on its shoulder, pointing to the fleeing pair. "I can deal with this one."

It gave a grunt of acknowledgement and ran straight past him, towards the others.

 _Sorry, girl…telekinesis wasn't ever one of your powers to begin with. The one who attacked your friends was me. Guess I just…wanted to get you to a place you could figure yourself out. Didn't work out. Most things don't._ Katsuhiko gave a hollow laugh, blood coming up with the noise. "I don't have time left to ask what your reason is, so let's just get on with it. Wanna go?" He concentrated, mentally tearing free a few spokes from the fence. "Ever wonder which of us is better?"

"You want a duel?" Kino eyed the floating objects with disdain. "My apologies, but I've evolved beyond mere psychic power."

"Whatever you say," the defiant psychic gasped. "C'mon and come at me."

* * *

Crouched in his vegetable garden, Shouichi looked up, eyes dilating. This was—

 _Unknown._

For a moment, the world appeared grayscale, one shining point of colour in the distance showing the creature's location.

This used to signal the start of his trances, but these days he'd retaken the driver's seat. Now it was more a pointer he was willing to follow on his own.

 _Just please, don't be that one…be any Unknown but that one._

* * *

It was that one.

He stood rooted to the spot, staring on in terror as the creature that haunted his dreams advanced through the night-time construction site on Mana (and some other guy Shouichi barely noticed). He wanted to help. He _had_ to. But his legs wouldn't move.

 _I guess I'm not some great warrior after all…heck, I'm just some gardener…_

 _But…_

 _But…!_

 _Come on, Tsugami. This is something you can do._

" _Mana!"_ he called, getting her attention and the Unknown's. Now they'd seen him. _Put more pressure on myself…might be enough to get me over this…_

Koji, meanwhile, eyed him suspiciously. _Him again? He still doesn't remember, right?_

"It's all right now," Shouichi said, kicking down the flimsy metal-mesh barricade between him and the rest of them and entering the construction site with slow, measured steps. He passed out of the shadows and into the moonlight, assuring Mana and himself, "there's nothing to be afraid of anymore."

Breathe in. Breathe out. Keeping the breathing calm and level, he'd learned, was very important for becoming Agito.

Arm down, up, in, out.

Breathe in.

"Transform!"

Agito.

* * *

Yukina, called by the same signal, arrived on the scene a couple minutes later, picking her way over the fallen fence. The Agito she'd met a couple times was already fighting the Unknown. He was badly outmatched, but that didn't seem to be his concern. He kept throwing himself at it, grabbing it around the waist and driving it back a few steps or straining to hold it back with both hands on its staff, enduring every blow it thudded into his body. Every time he was knocked down, he positioned himself back between the creature and two other humans, a terrified-looking young man and teenage girl.

He wasn't simply fighting to win. There was something he was fighting _for_.

At that… _why am_ I _fighting?_

This was the first purely Yukina thought to break through the Agito trance since she'd been revived.

 _Because I'm compelled. But. What is accomplished? Have I even been paying attention to the ones under attack?_

 _And…why do I feel like what he's doing is better?_

 _And why do I feel like I've seen him before?_

 _What was it he said to me? My head's so fuzzy…_

"Leave him." Dr. Kino stood next to her, taking his sunglasses out of his pocket and slipping them on for some bizarre reason.

She looked quizzically over at him, mind still whirling with self-doubt.

"I do not believe it is healthy for Agito to coexist. In the end, only one is needed. That one will be the strongest. It may, however, be distasteful for you to kill him yourself, so…" He gestured towards the one-sided fight. "Leave things as they are, and the Unknown will do it."

She stared at him for a few seconds, before turning her gaze back to Shouichi, who fell back under another heavy swing, dazed and reeling, clawing at a nearby crate with both hands to stay upright. "You can't…have them…" he said, voice shaking. "Not one more step…"

 _Such a fierce voice…_

… _doesn't suit you,_ Yukina thought, out of the blue.

Kino looked concerned, seeing the tiniest point of recognition in her eyes, beginning to blossom.

"It's not like you," she whispered.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "You'll gain nothing in helping him. In his condition—"

She shoved him away, striding towards the fight, materialising her belt. "That's…my brother…" Transforming light washed over her. Her eyes narrowed, and she made herself say it with more confidence. _"That's my brother!"_

The Unknown's head turned, slightly too late as a second Agito dive-tackled it, heaving with all her might to shove it back from its battered opponent.

Hunched over from his latest beating, Shouichi looked up to see his saviour. "Yukina…you…"

"Stay behind me." Her head snapped around to focus directly on the Unknown, clenched fists shaking at her sides. "And _you_ …" Every injury, every beatdown and cruel slash she'd blankly witnessed her brother receive earlier played through her mind with a new horror. "Don't you _ever_ …touch him again." Her belt seemed to twist in on itself, the light it emitted fading to a sickly purple, vibrations running out from it through her whole body—Agito's golden shine deepened to crimson, and in a burst of flames, her form changed completely.

Gone was the metallic smoothness, replaced by a jagged, bulky appearance, a trio of blades jutting out from each forearm. Her armour was cracked in places, and beneath it flowed something like magma, little jets of fire escaping constantly.

The Unknown lunged—she ducked under it, with a roar concentrating the wild flames around one fist and driving home a punch into its ribs, feeling them crack against her knuckles. It fell away, flailing in pain, and she carried on towards it.

With a flash from her belt, a double-ended, curved shortsword was summoned, and she raised it two-handed as she reached her target.

The Unknown surged to its feet, striking with its own weapon, but Yukina struck at the same time; the staff was sliced clean in two and a great burning gash carved across the Unknown's chest. She turned, stabbing forwards and impaling it from behind. It gargled, twitching, its kind's signature pre-death halo shining above its head for a moment before, still transfixed on Yukina's weapon, it exploded, the powered-up Agito stalking out of the flames back towards those she'd saved.

Shouichi stared in disbelief. He knew about two alternate forms Agito could take, but those were 'sideways' adjustments in ability, a tradeoff, none better than the other. This, though…this blew away every form before it. _This is…an evolution._

"Do you remember me?" he asked, still cautious.

She came to a stop. "It's…distant. But I think so." She looked intently at him, or at least appeared to through the enormous yellow compound eyes. "You're a fool, always trying to meddle and 'help' every little thing. And…" A tiny laugh. "You love your vegetables. Can't stop you putting them in every meal."

Mana was certain, on hearing this. _That's Shouichi, yeah…then this really is his sister._

"It's hard for me to remember, too," he said, barely restraining the overflowing joy in his voice, holding her hands in his. "But I know you. You were such a happy person, breezing through life at a hundred miles an hour…I hope you can find that part of you again."

"I…was like that…?"

Their reunion was broken up by a slow clap; Dr. Kino, kicking the fallen fence out of his way as he sauntered towards them. "That was no ordinary Unknown—or Lord, as they call themselves—you just killed. That was the El Lord of Water." He shot a regretful look at its scattered remains. "One of his personal attendants."

"His?" Yukina asked, her and Shouichi moving to put themselves in front of Mana and Koji again.

Kino ignored the question. "There are two more El—and this one's power is as nothing to them. They would slaughter you or me. There is no point in you progressing any further."

"Did you kill Katsuhiko?" Koji shouted, feeling defiant, then a little less brave for doing so from over the shoulders of a pair of Agito.

"Of course. That was the only purpose in keeping you all together like that."

"Damn it, what the hell d'you want us dead for?"

"What he wants is for humans to stay as they are. Those who are something more, and those who will someday become more…all those carrying the Seed of Agito must be destroyed. That was the deal I struck with him. Those who are still uncorrupted can live, and I will be rewarded." He clenched both hands into fists in front of him, then crossed them over down by his waist, the familiar mystic belt shining into existence. "I am the only one that needs to exist…all other Agito will be destroyed, to save humanity. _Transform!"_

The change was very brief, his new form sweeping over him almost instantly. It was like a twisted, mutant parody of an Agito. Tiny teeth lined the faceplate. The carapace lacked a metallic shine, simply glistening as if slightly wet, a patchwork of dark browns and greens. A single jagged blade swept back from each forearm, and some kind of miniature cape hung from each shoulderblade.

"You have strayed from God's path," his rumbling voice intoned. "I will destroy you, and save the world."

"Hey now, there's no—" Shouichi began, but he was rushing them already. He swung off Shouichi with both hands, using him as a platform to swing a two-footed kick into Yukina; she managed to get a cross-armed block up, sliding back through a cluster of steel barrels.

Shouichi, meanwhile, went down in one punch, gurgling as his mind reeled to understand what had even happened, taking a while to register the terrifyingly-powerful Agito assaulting them.

Kino turned his attention to Yukina, who was already charging back at him, clouds of fire swirling around her. _In this new form, she's by far the stronger of the two…I can ignore him for now._

He dodged back as she swung at him, left, right, left, heavy punches sailing past him. _Not that fast, but the strength in those fists is terrifying…if I block with my own hands, it won't end well for me…_ He darted around to the left, waiting for her to angle back around at him, swinging his leg up into a kick straight upwards into her arcing fist. _This, though—!_

They met with a blaze of flame from Yukina's hand; after struggling for a moment, Kino's foot broke through, shoving through her guard and into her face. As she staggered away, he leapt in and hammered both fists into her gut, toppling her over.

Then he heard the unmistakeable hum of energy behind him—Shouichi had taken the time Yukina had bought him to bring the mystical energies flowing through him to their highest point, preparing to throw them all into one attack. His two horns split into four for a second as swirls of golden light decorated the floor around him, spiralling inwards until they'd all focused into his foot. Then he jumped.

"Still want to test me?" Kino whirled towards Shouichi as the younger man came rocketing down towards him, all-out flying kick meeting Kino's effortless standing kick, sparks flying as the unearthly powers within them clashed. "I require no evolution!" Kino bellowed suddenly. "I am the strongest Agito!" They broke away at once, Kino returning to his standing stance as Shouichi backflipped away to the ground, kneeling.

The beating he'd taken from the Water El was really catching up with him, though, so he stayed there a moment too long, catching his breath. By the time he looked up, Kino's knuckles were filling his vision, and the vicious backfist knocked him all the way over to Mana. Kino was already engaging Yukina again, ducking under her deadly fists to shove his elbow in, hauling her past him as she flinched from the pain and kicking her to the ground next to her brother. The body-changing light washed over them both, forcibly returning them to their human bodies as their stamina just about hit zero.

Kino made his way over to them, spreading his arms as if in welcome. "Rejoice," he said. "The four of you will die for the sake of humanity. This is God's will."

 _Can't even stand up…_ Yukina desperately searched for some solution, some way around the implacable force advancing on them. _Shouichi's even worse…damn it, what—_

Everything blazed white for a moment, Kino flinching and covering his insectoid eyes, before turning his attention over to the source: A camera flash, from the other side of the construction site.

A scrawny, indistinct figure was picking its way towards them, finally becoming visible in the faint starlight as he drew near, pushing a wheelbarrow out of his way and waving a greeting. "Yo there!" Ichimonji Hayato called. "I'm not really a religious guy, but that whole God's-will thing sounds a little off to me…you sure about all that?"

"You bastard, who the hell are you?" Kino was incensed at his hunt being interrupted.

The cover on Ichimonji's belt's central turbine popped open, the fan beginning to spin, drawing the nearby air through it and emitting a faint glow. "Just a human who dropped by."

(More accurately, someone had spotted the Water El tearing through the streets to get here and phoned the police, and the G3 Unit had rushed out before Ichimonji could finish talking to them; and he'd decided that sounded like trouble, and a Cyclone is faster than the G-Trailer, and thus, here he was.)

Both arms shot out to one side, rotating in a precisely-controlled arc over his head to the other side, folding at the last moment as he made fists.

"Transform."

The glow grew into a dazzling burst of rainbow brilliance, covering his form; when it was swept away, he'd taken on a Rider form near-identical to Hongo's, but for a differing colour scheme, most notably his vivid red gloves and boots.

Kino paused for a second, then threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, is that all? I've heard about _you_. There's two of you, right?" He swaggered up closer to Ichimonji. "You're just a human with some metal in you. Another joke like that tin can G3. Honestly, bringing such mundane weapons to a battleground of divine beings…" He patted the unmoving Rider's shoulder disparagingly. "And at least G3 is _new_ technology. You're, what, 20 years out of date? 30? I'm surprised you haven't fallen apart yet!" He gave a hearty laugh, going to slap Ichimonji's shoulder again. "You're so far out of your league it's not even—"

A red-gloved hand caught him before he made contact. Finally, Ichimonji looked at him directly. "I think you've said enough."

"H-Hey…" Kino tried to pull his hand free, but the grip was unbreakable. _What the hell…_ "Disappear!" His other hand shot in, landing a clean punch to Ichimonji's face.

After a moment, Ichimonji bent his head back into place, his sheer neck strength sufficient to push Kino's fist back.

"You talk pretty big, dontcha."

"Wh—that was—" Kino spluttered.

"No, no, it's okay. That was a good hit. Here, now I'll do one." He released Kino's hand, then immediately slammed a straight punch into the Agito's stomach.

It was the most devastatingly-hard impact Kino had ever felt. He staggered back three steps, clutching at his stomach, bent almost double, gasping raggedly and failing to form words.

"What? What? What was that?" Ichimonji cupped a hand to where his ear would be under his helmet. "Man, ten times normal human hearing and I still can't make it out. Not gonna take your turn? Guess I'm up again, then!" He took a running start, kicking high, his foot cracking into the side of Kino's head and flooring him instantly.

Even once Kino's head stopped ringing, he didn't seem to be under attack for the moment, giving him time to think— _What the hell_ was _that strength just now? I can barely think straight…how could_ _ **I**_ _be reduced to this…in two hits?!_

"Oi." Kamen Rider #2 pointed down at him. "Get up."

"Wh…?"

"You piss me off something fierce, but I'm not gonna hit you while you're down. So." He cracked his knuckles with an added mechanical _clunk_. "Get up so I can beat you some more."

 _Bastard…_ Kino's claws dug into the dirt, his whole body trembling. _Don't get cocky!_ Drawing on all his strength, he suddenly lunged up off the ground, reaching with both hands—which Ichimonji's own arms slipped between, shoving them away and leaving Kino wide open.

"There we go. Thought I was gonna have to drag you up myself." Kino had the briefest pause to regret the course that had lead him to this moment before the pain began. Trapped in a barrage of fists, pummelled this way and that, his breath forced out of him.

 _This power—! What_ _ **is**_ _he?! What kind of monster…_ After almost a solid minute of the relentless barrage, a spinning kick flung him back through the air, a pillar in the construction behind him 'catching' him with a heavy thud.

"I give," Kino croaked, sliding down the pillar.

"That's cute." Ichimonji's hands clenched in that same stance he'd transformed with, a burst of light flowing down his arms from his Typhoon belt, and he leapt after Kino, his right fist flying out, blazing red. Kino shut his eyes—

"RIDER PUNCH!"

And— _I'm…not dead?_ Slowly, the Agito reopened his eyes. Ichimonji stood over him, one arm extended past him, buried up to the wrist in the pillar.

"Just kidding." Ichimonji leaned down, looking him dead in the eyes, and whispered, " _Boom."_ At that exact moment, some kind of delayed reaction from his punch took place, and the entire pillar, along with the floor and ceiling for several feet around, crumbled to dust around them.

"Now…" Ichimonji stood up and back, brushing the grey stone-dust off him. "Start running."

Kino did so, and did not stop until he was half a city away.


	8. Agito: Count 4

**Agito Chapter**

 **Count: 4**

* * *

"Go on in." Ryou patted Shouichi's shoulder, indicating the doorway. "Let's get this started." In the living room sat Hongo, Ichimonji and Godai. With himself and Ryou joining them, that made every Agito and Rider on their side…Shouichi's shoulders slumped.

 _Except the most important one._

* * *

" _I'm…sorry," Yukina had said, gently pushing him away. "It's still hard to remember…being around you, I_ know _who you are but I_ don't… _it hurts my head. I'll come back. Just give me some time, please."_

 _With that, she slipped off into the night. Again._

* * *

It was hard to think of her as real, with her only half-there, physically and mentally. Like she was a ghost.

 _No. She's alive. I've held her hand in mine—my sister is alive, and she's coming back! I trust her._

Clearing his thoughts, he entered the room with Ryou, sitting opposite the three Riders. The Professor had taken the kids out for the day: Kids, plural. Mana had made up her mind.

* * *

" _I thought I needed to be there to understand myself…but they d_ _idn't know much more than me. Not really."_

 _She'd whispered in Shouichi's ear on the journey home, "The Unknown—uh, Lords—are targeting people with powers like mine. I don't want to put you all in danger, but…I don't know where to go."_

 _He just smiled. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna lose, whether they're after you or anyone else. I'm gonna be fighting them anyway, so you're not putting me in any more danger. And close to me is the safest place for you."_

" _Shouichi…"_

" _Yeah?"_

" _I…think I might've…" She paused, biting her lip. "It's possible…" That she'd killed her father? God, how could she_ think _that, she scolded herself._

" _What?"_

"… _never mind…"_

* * *

Shouichi buzzed from one new acquaintance to the other, now he finally had time to sit down and talk with them. "It's so cool to meet you all! You're cyborgs? Really?!"

Ryou shot them an amused look at these antics. "He once said he wanted to start an 'Agito Club' when we found more people like us."

"Yeah, yeah!" Shouichi babbled, looking very pleased with himself, oblivious to Ryou's condescending tone. "This is kinda like that, huh? Hehe…oh!" He sprang up and vanished into the kitchen, shouting that he'd be right back.

In his absence, Ryou leaned forwards. "Looks like this stuff won't leave me alone…all right. What do we have to do?"

"Keep fighting the Lords, obviously," Ichimonji offered, slouched back on the opposite couch, staring at the ceiling.

"And discover why they want to stop humanity's evolution," Hongo added. "Assuming what Kino said is true."

"Maybe they're just scared of us, y'know?" Ichimonji shot back.

"The weird guy I saw, in my mind," Godai cut in, "that was probably the person Kino was talking about—the Lords' boss. Whatever they're doing, it's _his_ idea."

"And Kino?" Ryou prompted.

"Hopefully he'll stop," Ichimonji said, shifting to get more comfortable. "I was thinking if I, the 'puny human', gave him a good beating he might have a long hard think and stop being a problem. But if he keeps at it we'll have to take him down."

"And there's Yukina, too," Hongo reminded them. "Not only would she be a powerful ally…without each other, that brother and sister are suffering. Hopefully she'll return soon…"

"Right!" Shouichi returned with a large basket of freshly-picked fruit and vegetables, setting it heavily down on the coffee-table and crashing into the nearest chair with a self-satisfied smile. "Next time we have this meeting, she'll be here too! Now c'mon, c'mon, dig in!"

Hongo took two tomatoes, tossing one to his partner; being veterans of eating whatever they could get on the road, it was impossible to tell if they enjoyed it or not, biting in impassively. Godai grabbed an enormous orange with enthusiasm, expertly peeling it with his pocket-knife and explaining, though nobody was listening, that this was one of his famed 2000 Skills.

Ryou just looked at the basket with a mix of confusion and disgust that said more about his own eating habits than anything else. "Isn't this…kinda weird to give your guests?" he mumbled.

Shouichi looked at him, wide-eyed. "Is it?"

"Ah…I dunno…never mind." He snapped his fingers in Godai's face to bring him back to the present. "So. Stop the Lords. Figure out their boss' deal. Get Yukina back. Hope Kino leaves us alone." He stopped talking as he realised Shouichi was frantically writing something. "Are you…" He peered over at the notepad. "…making a checklist…"

"Yup!" Shouichi said, studious, drawing a little box next to each objective. "I'll tick them off at each meeting for everything we've accomplished!"

Ichimonji rested his head again, his hands crossed under it. "You're really getting into this, huh, kid?"

"I think his enthusiasm is wonderful," Hongo said, chuckling at his partner's unimpressed tone.

"Then I guess you'll keep dragging me to these little meetings, old friend…can't be helped," Ichimonji huffed.

"Um…" Godai raised his hand as if asking permission to speak.

Ryou smacked a hand against his forehead. "You wanna say something, say it."

"Well…Mr. Ichimonji, not to be rude but…how old are you?"

The slouching Rider cracked an eye open. "Eh?"

"Well, you're saying stuff like 'kid' and 'old friend', but you don't look much older than I am…"

"Oh, right. Well, I'm getting on into my 50s—I've been fighting with Takeshi almost since the beginning. But, in case you forgot…" Suddenly he was behind the couch, easily lifting it (with Godai and Hongo on it) over his head one-handed. "Cyborg." He set it down, jumping back into his place.

"His semi-artificial body doesn't age," Hongo explained, not having so much as flinched during the whole process, while Godai had been flailing around in surprise. "The same _should_ be true for me, but…" He traced a finger along the lines of middle age on his face. "I'm a less advanced model cyborg than Hayato; I'm probably supposed to have regular maintenance to prevent this, but the ones who remodelled me are my sworn enemies, so…" He brightened up. "It seems to be aging in appearance only, though. At least for now, I'm as strong as ever."

"Awesome, awesome!" Shouichi was mulling over his notepad when the mental shock hit him, his eyes dilating for a moment. Ryou gave a jolt, too.

Hongo noted the reaction. "An Unknown?"

"Yeah." The two Agito were already getting up, grabbing their coats, when Shouichi looked back to the other three. "Hey…just once, do you think we could all go?"

"Oh no, God forbid anything be easy for once," Ryou said, trying to keep his face straight.

* * *

Yukina watched the five of them drive off, sitting in a car on the opposite side of the street. She couldn't remember how she'd got it. Or any of the last 12 hours. Her mind was still freewheeling, but she was feeling pretty lucid now. This house was the closest thing to her past life that survived. So, when the Professor's car pulled up, and he and Mana and Taichi, laden with bags of groceries, clambered out and headed into the house, they found Yukina leaning against the front door, staring them down.

The Professor stared for quite some time before regaining enough composure to speak. There was much spluttering, grasping at empty air and repeating her name.

She cut him off as he made to lead her inside. "I'm not going in with you. I'm not going to sit down and make myself comfortable. We're going to talk, briefly, then I'm going to leave."

"But—how are you alive?"

Mana bit her lip. She wished she'd told everyone, but there was no way to just casually drop that kind of bombshell into a conversation. _Oh, by the way, you know those psychic powers you're not sure I even have? Some strange guy brought me to a hospital to use them to bring Shouichi's sister back to life, also she's Agito, also_ he's _Agito—_

— _wait._ How did the Professor know Yukina, anyway?

"I came back here to…" Yukina gestured vaguely. "Try and pick up anything I could find of my life. But I can't feel it. No, it's…" She folded her arms, looking down. "I can't face you, after all."

They were all on the verge of replying when she suddenly continued. "Mana. The police were right. Your father was killed by an unconscious use of psychic power."

All that fear and self-loathing rushed back in. Bile rose in Mana's throat. _Then I really…I…!_

"It was me," Yukina breathed, and Mana's world turned upside-down again. "Ask your uncle. And," she added with venom and a glance at the Professor, "he owes you the truth.

"Well, that's about it." She shoved her way past them, leaving them shell-shocked in the driveway. "After that, I killed myself." She stopped for a brief moment. "Even as bad as things were…that was a mistake. So…thank you, Mana." That was the last they heard of her before she drove off.

On the other side of the road, Shouichi stood slack-jawed, tears welling in his eyes.

* * *

 _Five minutes ago…_

Agito, Gills, Kuuga, and Riders #1 and #2 stood in a loose semi-circle around the diminishing fires signalling the only remnant of the poor solitary Lord they'd encountered. It hadn't even reached its target before they'd intercepted it.

"Man, that _was_ easier," Shouichi said, kicking idly at the embers.

"We should do this more often," Godai concurred.

"Nostalgic…" Hongo said, sweeping a proud gaze around the quintet.

Ichimonji gave his shoulder a light shove. "This is nothing. We've had teams more than twice this size." After a second, he relented. "But all right, this is nice. Riders working together, that's how it should be."

"Right. It gets lonely, sometimes…we should make the most of times like these."

With a flash, Shouichi reverted to human, the others following suit. "Well, it's getting late, I should head home. Uh…the house is pretty full most of the time, so I don't think you can stay over or anything."

"It's fine, we've made arrangements," Hongo assured him.

Ryou stepped closer, holding a finger in Shouichi's face. "Hold on a minute, Tsugami, did you include me in that? You don't think I have a place to stay?"

Shouichi grinned, backing away. "Calm down, calm down, I just…well, you don't look very responsible is all! I didn't know if—"

"I have a house! How did you forget my house? _You've slept in my house!"_

"Oh…right." Lacking any kind of comeback from that, Shouichi fled to his bike, swinging it back towards home. "Well, see you guys soon! Let's keep on working hard and beat the Lords! Bye!"

"Really." Ryou shook his head, smirking. "A total idiot."

"He's a good guy," Ichimonji said.

"Sure. That too."

* * *

 _Now…_

Before Shouichi could cry out, his attention was jerked away— _A Lord!_ And mere minutes after they'd just beaten one. This had never happened before.

Swallowing his tears, he remounted his bike and turned away from home, spotting Yukina's car going the same way further down the street.

* * *

Ryou was also riding towards the source of the new signal. _Damn things just won't leave us alone…_ And they wouldn't have Godai, Hongo or Ichimonji this time. But hopefully Shouichi or Yukina, or both, would turn up to help—

A black van lunged out of a side-road, straight into his path. He swerved as fast as he dared, barely avoiding a full-on collision, finally managing to screech to a halt with the front wheel buried in a garden fence. He was tossed off his seat by the impact, cold pavement smacking into his face, trying to get upright but still disoriented as the van door opened, heavy footsteps coming his way.

He looked up, and Kaoru Kino stood over him.


	9. Agito VI: Remember Me

**Agito Chapter**

 **Part 6: Remember Me**

* * *

Yukina stayed slightly ahead of Shouichi for the entire journey—they were being drawn to a bridge over the river. There was little traffic in this area this late, so the Lord, its two shrieking victims held out over the water, stood alone. There was a crunch as its fingers tightened, the two teens' bodies going limp.

 _Too late._

Yukina's eyes stretched to their widest, rage burning behind her face. She jammed her foot down into the accelerator, diving out of the car at the last second and letting it ram head-on into the Lord, carrying both off the bridge and into the water.

Shouichi pulled up beside her, helping her up as she felt at the side she'd landed on.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine…"

"You sure? You look kinda—"

"I'm _fine_." They just about had time to transform before the Lord leapt back up to them, water dripping off its turtle-shell hide. Rows upon rows of tiny, needle-sharp teeth glinted in its mouth, permanently bared.

Twin golden blurs, the two Agito attacked, weaving in and out with instinctive harmony. The monster's swiping claws swung through empty air in their wake, their perfectly-synchronised fists crashing home and driving cracks into its hardened flesh.

A feint took it off-balance and Shouichi barged it to the floor, stepping back as Yukina leapt past him, streams of glowing power flowing down her leg, aiming herself at the Lord and somehow _accelerating horizontally_ in mid-air, bursting it apart on impact and carrying on to skid to a halt across the ground behind where it had just been.

Shouichi put his hands on his hips, giving a satisfied nod. "We've got pretty good at thi—" He yelled in surprise and pain and staggered forward as something raked across his back. Another Lord stood behind him! He turned to face it, and a _third_ jumped up to kick him back towards Yukina, who was wrestling with a fourth.

They were crawling up the bridge's support columns, coming out of the river in twos and threes. Five, six, ten—maybe twenty in all. The Agito shoved their assailants back, standing back to back in a rapidly-shrinking circle of monstrous soldiers.

Before Shouichi could even start to ask, _any ideas_ , Yukina was already burning all over, armour bulking out and snuffing the flames to reveal the evolved form she'd used to defeat the Water El. With a ragged exhalation, she raised her head to the cluster of foes surrounding them, flexing her hands.

The first Lord to lunge in at her had its head crushed between her fingers in an instant. A second thrust its spear at them—Shouichi ducked, and Yukina caught the weapon's haft between her arm-blades, snapping it in two with a quick twist of her forearm. She turned and delivered a spinning punch to its abdomen, her fist channelling a lethal payload of flames into its body.

Things were made even more one-sided when she produced this form's two-bladed sword, carving through Lord after Lord with quick, brutal strokes. Shouichi stuck behind her, watching her back and dragging any that attacked him around in front of Yukina for her to dispose of. It was quick, dirty work to get through the lot of them, leaving the two of them side-by-side, panting.

"Nothing like that's happened before…" Shouichi said, tapping a finger against his mouthpiece. _And especially with how it was so soon after the last one…_ "I guess that was a trap for us."

 _Indeed_

The voice pulsed through their minds, bringing with it a stabbing pain.

 _But I underestimated you_

Though they couldn't see the speaker, somehow they could tell the 'you' was directed at Yukina.

 _This new evolution of yours_

 _It's troubling_

 _I have sent my champion_

Lumbering footsteps echoed over to them from the shadowed end of the bridge.

 _He aspires to join the ranks of the El_

 _If he removes the two of you, I will grant his desire_

The Lord came into view: Towering, armoured in black and gold, a rhinoceros-beetle horn rising off its forehead. It made a brief praying motion, asking its master forgiveness for the sinful, but necessary, act it was about to perform: Killing two of his children. Then is unslung a shield from its back and a mace from its belt, and charged.

 _If it's just one—!_ Shouichi ran to meet it, and was promptly felled in one strike, falling away with his head ringing from the mace's mighty blow.

When he had his wits back enough to sit up, the sounds of battle were ringing from behind him; Yukina and the Lord were clashing, her blades clashing against its shield with another deafening noise. Normally when an Agito fought, it was with calm near-silence, deep steady breathing. But she was grunting and growling like a wild beast.

In fact, she hadn't spoken a word in response to him since she'd assumed this form, he realised.

Despite the ease she'd taken out more than twenty Lords just a minute ago, any one of which would have been a match for Shouichi, this one alone was starting to push her back. Its defences were too well-timed, its blows ludicrously-strong, the mace's spiked head crunching against her armour again and again. She was driven further and further back, until she was inches from falling off the bridge entirely.

Quickly transitioning to his blue-hued, staff-armed form for the boost in speed, Shouichi rushed to her aid, but once again was smacked away with zero effort from the warrior Lord. In the moment it was distracted dealing with him, Yukina attacked, but it dodged, bringing its weapon heavily down on her shoulder, driving her to her knees with a pained gasp, her sword hitting the floor and skidding away.

It raised the mace for one more strike, taking maybe a moment longer than it needed given how beaten she looked—which was exactly what she wanted it to think. Not _quite_ as worn out as she'd made it appear, she surged up and past it, swinging around so now the Lord was between her and the edge. Focusing intense waves of heat down her arms, she rammed two flaming fists into its back, launching it out over the water, where it plummeted into the river.

"Hghhhh…rrgh…" Her shoulders heaved, steam rising from her entire body, still growling.

"Yukina…" Shouichi approached, hesitantly reaching out. "Yukina…are you okay? You seem kinda weird…"

Suddenly she let out a roar, turning on him, flames lapping at his armoured carapace—then she was back in human form, embracing him, shivering.

"What was that?" he whispered, de-transforming himself. "That wasn't you…"

"I found that power in anger," she said quietly, almost monotone. "Anger is all it knows."

"Well. Uh. Okay. Let's get out of here, all right? That thing's gonna be coming after us."

"Right…right. I don't know if I could do that again." She supported him as they made their way back to his bike, righting it. "Where do we go for now?"

"Can't be the house I'm staying at. It'll catch us before we get there." Something seemed to strike him. "Get on, quick. I know somewhere. A friend of Professor Misugi—uh, the guy I live with."

Yukina mouthed the name silently. "I…know him. Or, knew him? I think I did. Damn, it was so much clearer earlier today. It's all fading again. Comes and goes."

Shouichi couldn't take his eyes off the road to study her expression. "Do you remember what you said? To Mana?"

"I…oh." Yukina gave a sudden gasp and held tight as it all came flooding in. "I'm sorry. You must have been hurting so much with me gone." Watching the faded paint on the road flash by, she repeated, "I'm sorry. Tetsuya."

They pulled up outside an unremarkable house, and he finally turned back to her, gawking. "My…my name's Shouichi."

"What?" She chuckled at the absurdity. "My _boyfriend's_ name is Shouichi. I recognise my brother. I know your memory hasn't come back, so you're just gonna have to trust me." She patted both his shoulders, the siblings now facing each other at the end of the driveway. "Tetsuya."

"But I'm _sure_ I'm…called…" Shouichi, or possibly Tetsuya, trailed off as he suddenly decided he was not, in fact, sure at all.

* * *

" _We found you washed up on the beach…all you were carrying was this. A letter addressed to one 'Tsugami Shouichi'."_

" _Oh…I guess that must be me, heh. Right?"_

" _Nothing else to call you."_

* * *

"Okay. Okay. Um." He removed his helmet, giving Yukina a rare totally-serious look. "What's my full name?"

"Sawaki Tetsuya."

He slapped a hand to his forehead. "There! Right there! I remember something." He almost tripped, supporting himself against the front garden fence. "There _is_ another guy…the real Tsugami Shouichi. Yeah, he cared for you, and…uh…c'mon…right, so I woke up with a letter for him for some reason and started calling myself that. So he's going around using _my_ name since I'm using his."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"I talked to him. Argh, that's what those kinda hazy days recently were! I remembered _everything._ Talked to him about you. Killed like four Lords without realising. Then it all went again."

She was going to keep asking questions, then a primal roar echoed in the distance, cut through with an insectoid clicking.

"C'mon, inside," Yukina urged, pulling her brother along; he didn't protest.

* * *

On a rooftop two blocks over from them, a poised metallic figure appeared in a swirl of golden feathers, raising its head to the night sky.

 _Finally got away, I think. He won't find me for a while. Better do what I can in this time period…_

 _No use trying to snuff out the Riders-in-potential here. There are so many! This is a crux point in humanity's evolution. But only a handful will make use of their evolution to become hindrances. And I can't stop those, or my past self might not become me._

 _You've caused me a lot of trouble, Kamen Rider Agito, though you don't know it yet. But you're a problem for my past self to deal with._

 _However…_ In this time period, this area was also where two people resided who Odin's benefactors would be _very_ happy to see out of the picture, no matter the method. And though already old, they had plenty of temporal potential energy left in them. _If I just head back a few hours, they were isolated then. Perfect._

He held out his free hand, a flickering orb of white light pulsing into view for a moment, before he closed his fingers around it, concealing it again. _It's almost complete…almost…!_

 _Must be quick about it. Before he catches up._

He slotted the card into its slot, and— _"Time Vent"_ —was gone.

* * *

 _Just to be clear, the beetle Lord in this chapter is the one from the TV special._


	10. Agito VII: Burn Out, Shine On

**Agito Chapter**

 **Part 7: Burn Out, Shine On**

* * *

Needless to say, Kunieda Higashi did not expect to be woken by his doorbell in the middle of the night. But he expected even less to open the door to be greeted with the amnesiac he'd once nursed back to health, looking every bit as battered as last time. Tsugami, along with a woman Higashi didn't know, practically fell into his house as soon as he opened the door, giving him grateful, incoherent mumbles.

Barely a minute, he had them both seated and was fussing around in the kitchen preparing hot drinks. He desperately wanted to know what had brought them here, of course, but they clearly needed some time and nourishment.

Possibly more time than he'd anticipated, as both his guests had fallen fast asleep by the time he returned. Smiling gently, he left a note telling them to take what they wanted from the fridge, turned the light off and headed upstairs to bed.

Three hours later, the siblings sat on a concrete step in Kunieda's back garden in the warm darkness. Yukina gazed up at the moon while her brother picked at some grass. It took them a while to start talking.

"So…Mana's dad…that was you." No accusation, but no forgiveness either. A flat statement.

"Yes." She folded her arms, resting her chin on them. "I didn't mean to. But I got all this power so quickly…our experiments worked too well. It just happened. I didn't mean to," she repeated.

"I believe you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have…" he sighed.

"It's okay. I'm here now."

"We can't stay here long. If that thing tracks us here…Mr. Kunieda doesn't deserve that. After he's been so kind."

She stood up, pulling him with her. "We've got a little time. We can get ready for next time, right?"

"How?"

"If we both had that form I reached, you think we could take him together?"

He agreed, but remained hesitant. "How do I get it?"

"We'll work on that. Become Agito."

He did so, and she began to coach him: On breaking through the trance, letting emotion overtake Agito's eternal calm, letting your anger in and letting it fill you up and burst out of you. But nothing happened. No form change.

"I just don't think there's enough anger _in_ me," he complained, the simple action of rubbing his head in embarrassment looking very odd coming from the normally-elegant Agito form. "There's nothing I really hate, y'know…that's too much stress, man…"

She smacked him, and immediately regretted not transforming first as pain shot up her arm, but ignored it to begin lecturing him. "Idiot! You've got the capacity _for_ emotion! It doesn't have to be _at_ someone! Just feel strongly about something, okay?"

"Like what?"

"I mean…hate to say it but…look, if you're anything like me…" She stopped stumbling over her words. "Don't you feel lost? Don't you _hate_ it?"

He stared silently for a while. The mask made it hard to pick up on any kind of emotion—normally he had the kind of face you could read like a book.

"Yes.

"I hate it. I'm fine with where I am, but who am I? Am I supposed to be this? Am I being _me_ wrong? What have I left behind? What's broken just for me not being there? Why are those things killing us, what did we _do_? And why does it have to be me fighting them? Can't it be someone who at least knows what's going on? Who _am_ I anymore? Is there any Tetsuya left? Did Shouichi ever exist?"

He bent over, head in his hands, the occasional raindrop beginning to hiss as it evaporated on contact with him. "I think maybe it does have to be at someone, Yukina. And…I'll do."

His building anger exploded out of him in a tornado of flame, sweeping over him and transfiguring him, armour plates cracking and bulging outwards as his figure swelled with muscle, turning a deep red as if he was being roasted by his own unnatural body heat.

They stood staring at each other for a while, her expression unreadable, his body shaking with almost forced emotion, the form itself dragging up whatever threads of fury and disgust it could find in him.

Eventually he saw no more point in being transformed and reverted, crouching and curling up, shivering. "Okay. I did it."

"Look, I know it's no fun," Yukina said, brushing a hand over his head. "Suck it up. We need it."

He turned to look away from her, and saw Kunieda on the porch, looking out at them with bulging eyes.

"Uh…oh, Mr., uh…look…how much did—" He rose and took a single step, Kunieda falling backwards with a yelp at the movement.

"Look. It's okay." She went and picked him up, dusting him off. "Stop shaking, it's fine. That thing he was is called Agito. We can both do it. Nothing to be scared of."

"Agito…so that's it…" the doctor said, something almost nostalgic in his voice. "Does it hurt?"

"No. Well. Not normally."

"It doesn't bother you? Your body changing like that?"

"It used to," Shouichi said. "But I can control when it happens. It's still kinda weird though…when you get called…"

"Called," Kunieda whispered. "That's what he said…it was calling…"

"…sir?"

Their host sank into a garden chair, running both hands through his hair. "My son…he was the same. This…Agito. I guess if he'd given it enough time, he'd have been able to control it, like you. Heh." He kept stuttering, glancing around as if for an escape.

"He couldn't. His body changing…the calling…it was too much, I tried to stop him, I…"

"Hey, hey." Shouichi took him by both shoulders. "Please, calm down."

The man didn't seem to notice them. "He killed himself…oh, my boy, my poor—"

" _Sir!_ " They shook him back to his senses, guiding him inside and to his seat. Shouichi was staring over at Yukina. She couldn't meet his gaze. (Don't say it. Please.)

"Is being Agito…so bad?" she said, bitter.

"Well…that new evolution…it's not so great," he offered. "If that's what being Agito leads to, y'know?" He looked blankly up at the ceiling. "The police have attacked me before, and…the Lords are only after us, right? Us and people who'll become like us eventually?

"Are we the problem?"

She punched him in the face, dragging him up to her by the collar before he could fall. "What the _hell_ is that? Huh? What's this shit you're spouting? Are _we_ the problem?! You know that's not true!"

"Isn't it selfish, though?"

" _Selfish?_ To fight for the right to exist? To become something better? Listen. I've been there. Thinking you're the problem." Her eyes were as wide as they could get, grip on his jacket tightening. "You're _not_. Nothing wrong with different…it's okay to change."

They both froze.

The call.

Kunieda recognised the look in their eyes. "You're…not going to end up like him, are you?"

Shouichi gave a goofy smile. "Nope."

"We'll keep evolving," Yukina said. "Without fear."

"The reason we get called is, uh, to fight," he explained. "There are things out there…well, you shouldn't have to deal with them. One of them's coming this way now. So we're heading out to stop it."

"But, that's…" Kunieda looked at them with no little despair—their faces so young but their eyes already so weary. "Do you have to?" he asked weakly.

"There's no-one else," Yukina said, and they were gone.

* * *

The warrior Lord stopped short its endless march; in the middle of the road, blocking its path, the brother and sister stood, opposing it again.

It raised its armaments and roared a battle-cry.

Moving in sync, they transformed. Then, they transformed _again_ , reaching the over-muscled, burning state, raising their smouldering hands just in time to meet its charge.

It was a vicious affair. All three combatants possessed brutal strength, and pulverising, unsubtle blows were traded without pause. Either one of them alone would have soon been smashed aside, but together the evolved Agito were able to keep up the pressure on the Lord champion.

The brawl dragged on, and on, and on. They staggered at each other, leaning heavily into their swings, falling away and smashing through fences, lampposts, postboxes. But it was wearing more on the Agito—they didn't just have to contend with physical exhaustion, but their evolved form's innate burning anger, which seemed to grow with every second they remained in the form.

It ate into them, chipping away at their reasoning, their teamwork and co-ordination starting to crumble. The Lord was quick to take advantage, smashing heavy mace-blows into both of them and landing them next to each other a good ten feet down the road.

Yukina recovered quicker, launching herself back at the monster with a deep growl.

Shouichi took a second or two longer to prop himself up, and paused.

For just a moment, everything was clear.

 _Who am I…? That's obvious._

 _I'm this person right here…I'm me. What name I slap on that doesn't matter._

 _And I've found my place._ He stood. It seemed easy, like he wasn't even tired anymore. _It's right here. This battlefield._

 _That's it, isn't it, Yukina?_ For a moment, he just watched her battling. Relentless. Fearless. _That's how you do it. I'm not like you…wherever you are, you make that your place._

 _And…_ He inhaled, slowly, deeply. _I'm not going to lose._

 _Not to the Lords._

 _Not to this anger._

 _Not to despair._

He exhaled, and turned his face upwards.

And the sun rose.

The crack of dawn shone over the horizon, bathing them in the first rays of the day's light. Still in a strange altered consciousness, he could feel it wash over him. Before, assuming this evolution, he'd felt like a man on fire. But this feeling…it was fire, but somehow gentle. Warm, relaxing.

His body shuddered.

* * *

 _You_

 _Begin_

 _To_

 _Move_

* * *

Inhale. Exhale.

The bulk seemed to be falling off him, cracking and bursting to reveal shining brilliance beneath. He felt so much lighter now. An insect shedding its skin—no, leaving its cocoon.

* * *

 _Body_

 _Heart_

* * *

He took a step towards the Lord, and then he must have taken some more because there he was in front of it. Yukina had taken another solid hit, and been knocked halfway through a nearby parked minivan.

Eyeing the Lord up, Shouichi threw a punch. It brought up its shield to block, and he slowed down to let it. His fist collided with the curved, ethereal metal—

* * *

 _Your feeling_

 _Your wish_

* * *

—and shattered it, the Lord falling back with a confused screech. Drawing himself up, Shouichi put a hand out in front of him, his belt flashing and producing the same weapon the bulked-up form had used; this time, though, he split the double-ended thing in two, balancing one blade in each hand.

The beetle-Lord screeched, bringing the mace around two-handed, and then Shouichi was behind it, trails of light streaming off both blades.

* * *

— _believe._

* * *

The Lord's weapon fell in half, the spiked head clattering against the road. The second strike made itself known as a glowing diagonal slash up the monster's side, and it roared in pain, reeling back and putting a hand to the wound.

When it looked up, some kind of glowing symbol was staring it in the face. Hanging in the air, formed of ghostly white light, was an image not entirely unlike Agito's face, flanked by four curved horns. At the other end of a whole line of these images, each as tall as any of them crouched Shouichi, bathed in the morning light, the symbols tracing a path between them.

While the Lord still struggled with the damage from his last attack, he took to the air, at first jumping with almost leisurely ease at the first symbol. But with each one he passed through he gained a burst of velocity, until in no time at all he burst out of the final image with a triumphant yell, thrusting his foot out to strike it directly on the jaw.

It sprawled back and skidded down the street, leaving twin trails of sparks as it went, finally rolling to a halt on the pavement, almost at the end of Kunieda's garden.

It climbed to its feet, screeched, shakily extended a clawed hand. But enough had been done. A halo materialised over its head, blinking for a second before it toppled onto its front, vanishing in a violent plume of fire.

Later, Yukina finally approached him, the two of them taking shelter from the now-glaring sun.

"What did you do?" she asked.

He gave a contented sigh. "Evolved."

* * *

 _Next time, we go_ back _in time, to find out what everyone else has been doing while this was going on!_


	11. Agito: Count 3

**Agito Chapter**

 **Count: 3**

 _This chapter starts place a day before the end of the last one—on the same evening that Yukina and Shouichi first fought the beetle Lord._

* * *

Cybernetically-enhanced hearing was at least all-purpose, but it didn't have the range of the Agito's laser-guided Lord sense. The Double Riders, en route to their rented rooms across town, did not initially detect that Shouichi had headed back out, or that he and Yukina were fighting again.

It would be hard, however, to miss when well over twenty Lords swarmed to the battlefield at once, the cacophony drifting across town to reach the veterans' ears, and a few seconds of silent focus gave them specifics.

With a quick nod to each other, they veered back around and drove to the rescue of their embattled allies, transforming as they rode.

Soon, a bridge loomed in the distance. Atop it, jets of flame rose occasionally as Yukina tore through the Lords. To save time, the Riders kicked against the ground, their superhuman muscles propelling their bikes into the air and over the railing, landing in the shallows of the river and driving on in a spray of dark water.

Then the world seemed to… _invert._ They fell _up_ out of the water, disoriented, landing on the bank. The river was still. Their bikes were gone. No-one was on the bridge. Everything was silent.

They stood, staying alert.

"Welcome, Kamen Riders…to Mirror World."

Odin emerged from the shadows beneath the bridge, arms folded, gazing imperiously down at them.

"Who are you?" Ichimonji demanded.

"Kamen Rider Odin. Your executioner."

"Kamen Rider?" Hongo asked, taken aback. "You're no Rider I know of. Who gave you that name?"

"I'm a better class of Rider...one that will replace you, soon enough. I'm not sure if I exist yet in this time period, but it won't be long."

"Then…you're from another time?"

"I don't owe you any answers. All I require is for you to offer up your lives and energy…" One hand kept clenching and unclenching with a metallic grinding sound. "…so that I can create an immortal life."

"All right, we get it, you're mysterious and terrifying!" Ichimonji said, shaking his fingers in an exaggerated loosening-up motion. "Come at us already!"

"I have no intention of risking my life in battle." Odin sank into the solid-seeming water, becoming a rippling, moving reflection. "In case you haven't yet grasped the situation: I have just returned to the real world. The two of you remain in Mirror World. But you needn't feel lonely."

Something started to stir; from all directions, mechanical parodies of real-world animals twitched and shuddered their way into the dim light, patterned every colour of the rainbow and emitting a high-pitched, unending whine.

Surrounded by the things, the Riders stood back-to-back on the hardened river, waiting in guarding stances as the circle tightened around them.

Odin's voice echoed up to them. "Let me know how my Mirror Monsters measure up to the crude cyborgs your creators used to throw at y—"

" _Rider Reversal!"_ The closest Monster, a bulky rhinoceros-shaped machine, had lunged, and Hongo's body seemed to flow under it, one foot whipping out as he found handholds and easily unbalanced it, dumping it right onto Ichimonji's rising fist, the impact tearing it in half.

"Not bad, I guess," Ichimonji said, kicking the remains away.

"Yes, we haven't had a real warm-up in a while." Hongo turned to face the next. "At you, then!"

* * *

Even the most thrilling of battles ceases to be so after the first few hours, and thus it was that things started to blur together as they passed the night fending off the seemingly-endless waves of Odin's Monsters, striking down one after another without respite. By sunrise, they were starting to tire, briefly sagging after each blow, leaning against each other for support.

"At this rate…" Ichimonji gasped. "We're going to run out…of energy before…he runs out of Mirror Monsters…we need to escape."

Hongo was about to reply, but something seemed to catch his attention. "Ah…I see."

"Huh? Got something?"

"More or less."

* * *

Up in the real world, Odin sauntered back down towards the river, having wandered off for a few hours. _They should be dead now, or very soon…I can at least witness them._

He went to peer into the water—and it shuddered, a faint shockwave passing out and into the ground.

 _What…?_

* * *

The solid 'water' had cracked, but held. The Mirror Monster horde pressed in from all sides.

"Once more!" Hongo yelled.

"Right!" They joined hands, their belts' turbines spinning to ever-greater speeds, twin energies joining into one.

" _Rider Full Power!"_

* * *

There came a noise as if a world of glass had shattered, and the Double Riders burst up out of the river, somersaulting over Odin's head and landing behind him, hand in hand and drenched in dirty water.

He stood frozen, dumbfounded, as they turned to him.

"Fatal mistake!" Ichimonji said with an overdramatic point.

"Telling us that place was called 'Mirror World'…" Hongo chuckled. "So of course we entered through a reflective surface—the water. All we had to do was break back through."

"But—there's no force on Earth that could break—" Odin spluttered, backing away.

"Prepare yourself!"

Odin barely had time to raise his staff before they were upon him with one of their great grasshopper-leaps, retreating further as their punches crashed against his guard.

He swung the weapon's back end out, putting distance between them and slotting a card into its ornate head. _"Sword Vent,"_ it read out, vanishing in a golden flash, replaced by a pair of slightly-curved blades. Not knowing about this capability of his, the Double Riders had rushed back in, only to each receive a clean strike across the chest from the materialising weapons. Odin moved in, singling out Hongo and landing another blow to his less-armoured side, raising both swords and bringing them down for a killing strike—but Hongo's hands shot up, grasping around Odin's and holding him back. They struggled back and forth, deadlocked.

Hongo seemed to falter, but it was a feint, and as Odin moved to press his apparent advantage, he failed to notice the rising kick that shoved against his chestplate, breaking the lock and pushing him out of striking distance.

"Seems we're about even," Hongo said, his stance slumping again after the wearisome struggle.

Ichimonji strode forward. "Only that strong?" He spread his arms wide as he approached, inviting attack, and Odin obliged, making two vertical slashes at neck level. Ichimonji held his hands out, the jagged blades glancing along his gloved palms, leaving steaming trails of blackened metal but not penetrating through.

Hissing and shaking his hands, Ichimonji lunged with a foot, catching the side of Odin's knee and dragging it to the ground. The veteran Rider quickly followed up, stepping in and taking hold of his downed opponent by the waist and neck, and—

" _Rider Jump!"_ In an instant they were cresting the arc of an enormous jump, high above the river. With a shove, Odin found himself plummeting into the river first, rising with a gasp just as Rider #2 descended from above with a _"Rider Chop!"_

However, Odin was no longer there when he landed, his chop channelling a shockwave into the river instead, parting it from one shore to the other for an instant.

Odin appeared between them in a cloud of golden feathers, raising his swords again. "Very well. I underestimated you. I'll fight seriously, then."

He became a blur, appearing just to land a blow or two then vanishing, coming from every direction, wearing down their defences then laying into them from all sides, leaving their armour cracked and chipped. The whole riverbank was covered with slowly-fading feather-trails.

As they leaned against each other to stay standing, he let himself reappear before them, levelling a sword at them. "Do you see now? We are on a different level."

 _-Ichimonji, do you read?-_

Ichimonji made no outward sign he'd received the electronic signal. If his partner was contacting him via the O-Ring when they were right next to each other, it meant he had something he didn't want Odin to hear.

 _-I copy. Tell me you've got a plan.-_

 _-I have…an idea.-_

 _-It'll do.-_

After relaying this idea, they simply waited for his next move. It wasn't long in coming. He came from the right this time, swinging both blades together. Instantly, Hongo leapt straight up, and Ichimonji gave him a two-handed shove upwards with all his famed strength.

 _-Can you be strong one more time?-_ had come the question, a moment ago.

 _-Always,_ \- had been the answer.

Hongo turned a slow backflip, aiming to land more or less where he'd jumped from, letting him stand protectively over Ichimonji, who was laid out groaning on the floor after taking both swords head-on. Odin had already vanished, startled by the sudden escape.

 _And if he's worried, he'll attack me from the safest possible place,_ Hongo reasoned. _Which is—_ He thrust his elbow backwards, right as Odin appeared directly behind him, catching the mystery Rider in the gut and drawing a bellow of surprise and pain. With his arm already back there, Hongo swung his forearm up, his fist smashing against Odin's visor. At this point, Odin wisely chose to teleport again, but Hongo was already turning to deliver a spin-kick that knocked the weapons out of the materialising Odin's hands.

"The more frustrated you get, the more predictable you become!" Hongo declared, drawing back as Odin lunged at him and receiving the charge.

In hindsight, Odin would later decide, rushing an enemy whose specialty was hand-to-hand combat, unarmed and in a blind fury, was quite a poor decision. Neither of his punches came anywhere close to landing, his leg was caught before his kick had really even begun, and from that unbalanced position he was unceremoniously dumped on his back.

He rose quickly…directly into a Rider Punch. By the time he picked himself up from _that_ , he was filled with a new apprehension. The Double Riders were getting closer, each supporting the other with an arm around the shoulder, walking in time.

 _When I heard all they could do was punches and kicks…I never expected anything like_ this… He scrambled away, swapping back to his staff. _#1 of skill…#2 of power…I underestimated them both._

"Got anything else?" Ichimonji joked.

"As it happens…" Odin planted his staff in the sandy soil, holding out a card in each hand. One read _Final Vent_. The other, _Survive._ "Either of these would let me kill you in moments. However…the collateral damage caused by using either could be incalculable." He stowed them away, drawing a different card. "I cannot risk altering the timeline so drastically this far back, or I might cease to exist.

"This will be your only lucky escape. The next time we meet, I will hold nothing back." He slotted in the card, snapping the staff-head shut around it.

" _Time Vent,"_ the reader declared, and he vanished.

The Riders finally let themselves relax, powering down and finding their discarded bikes among the 'dunes'. The sun was properly up by now, and whatever had been happening at the bridge had long since finished.

"We should find Shouichi," Ichimonji said, hauling his Cyclone upright. "He could still need help."

Hongo stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "We're no use to anyone right now. Come on, we heal fast; as soon as we've rested a while, we'll head back and see if he's home yet. I think I heard Yukina when we were on the way, too. With any luck, she'll be with him."

* * *

 _And that does it for these guys during these two days! Next, we'll see how Ryou fared (and then finally, the G3 unit, and then it'll be just about time for the arc finale)._


	12. Agito: Count 2

**Agito Chapter**

 **Count: 2**

 _Once again, rewinding to the previous day, to pick up where we left this plot thread hanging…_

* * *

A predatory snarl cut the evening quiet as Kino's corrupted Agito form grappled with Gills. A ridged tentacle snaked out from Ryou's wrist, tugging at Kino's arm, and he slapped it away—but withdrawing his arm let Gills twist out of his grip completely, rake clawed fingers across his grotesque face, and heel-kick him back into the van he'd arrived in, crumpling the bonnet and shattering the windshield.

Kino chuckled, pulling himself free of the now-wrecked vehicle. He wiped a finger along one of the shallow cuts on his face. "Is that all you're capable of?"

Gills shrieked, pouncing at him; he caught the grasping hands in mid-air, using the berserker's own momentum and shoving him on past, letting Gills tumble through a garden fence.

Kino marched over, stomping down every time Gills tried to stand until the creature stopped trying, shuddering as he lay in the clipped grass. "Either I've really beaten the fight out of you, or you're very good at playing—"

The latter was proved true as Ryou burst into motion, rising to one knee and throwing a punch into Kino's stomach. But the doctor moved faster, catching Ryou's wrist and bringing it to a halt just at the point of contact, suffering barely a tap. "Good effort, but you can't outfight me or out-think me. Understand?"

It was at this moment that Ryou extended his wrist-blade, the crude spike bursting through his skin just above his hand and piercing right through the left of Kino's abdomen.

Kino gasped, falling away, hand clamped to the exit wound on his back, black blood spilling through his fingers. "You…incomplete vermin, you…look what you…"

Gills reared up, giving a full-on roar and pouncing again. They both went down, clawing and grabbing at each other. Kino's head lunged forwards, faceplate retracting to reveal rows and rows of deadly pointed teeth. Ryou got his arm in the way just in time, the bite sinking into his natural armour; he bit back, enormous fangs tearing into Kino's shoulder.

He had to draw his head back as Kino's fist shot at him. Just as he thought he'd escaped, Kino opened his hand as it passed by, crushed-up pebbles he'd held in it showering into Gills' oversized eyes. Yowling, he rolled away, keeping his guard up until his vision returned.

He heard a slowly-building rushing noise, accompanied by a green glow, then something he still couldn't make out was coming straight at him—and Kino's imitation Rider Kick struck him right in the chest.

He hit the pavement hard, reverting to human and shuddering as a sickly feeling travelled through his body alongside the pain.

Kino lurched towards his defeated foe. _You lasted far longer than I expected…_ Indeed, far too long for Kino's liking. He'd been so focused on his target, he hadn't noticed the sirens until now. A car accident and subsequent monster-brawl in a public road, even this late, was going to attract attention.

Police and ambulance. He could work with that. In the moments before they turned the corner, he returned to human form and lay down in a sprawled position. His and Ryou's wounds didn't look like they'd been caused by anything either of them were carrying, and the call had presumably mentioned 'monsters', so when he started babbling to the paramedics about "some horrible—bug thing—like those Unidentified Life-Forms from last year, and—it's on TV now, they're back, aren't they—", this did adequately, and Ryou was too out of it to realise they were being put in adjacent ambulances and taken to the same hospital.

Which suited Kino's purposes very nicely.

* * *

"Isn't room 3 clear yet?"

"Just a few more—"

The medical staff jumped back as Kino sat bolt upright. He felt a little delirious, so he punched himself right on the wound Gills had given him, pain keeping him focused on the material. He outmanoeuvred the nurses in a sort of trance, slipping into the operating room and locking it behind him—he hadn't even noticed himself take the key from one of them. He dragged a couple cabinets in front of the doors, took a moment to catch his breath, and turned away.

What he was in was labelled as two separate rooms, but it was essentially one with a dividing curtain in the middle. Tearing it away revealed that there were two patients in here.

He glanced down at the hastily-bandaged wound in his side, and recalculated. Three.

Stitching himself didn't take very long. He wasn't about to sue himself, so he didn't have to be as careful about it. Now: Both the man he knew to be Gills and the woman he'd never met would be out for some time. The woman was in more critical condition though. _I must not lose sight of myself. I am in service of humanity._

It took only a few minutes to save her life, and then he was on to his other patient. Ashihara's breathing was shallow, his body slicked with sweat, but his condition wasn't life-threatening. Of course, the scalpel Kino now held over him would swiftly change that.

He stopped an inch from making the incision, staring at the arm he held the tiny blade in. It was a graft; a miracle of a transplant, a final gift from a departed brother. The same accident had robbed one sibling of his original arm, the other of his life.

Kino Kaoru was a man of science. He knew his brother was gone. But in that moment, poised to sever a life with the simplest slice, he felt the dead man's eyes on him.

 _Masato…is this something I would want you to see?_

 _No, it doesn't matter. No matter how low I sink…what I become…this is all for your sake._

Still, he couldn't make the cut. He jerked back, slumping against the wall with a gasp. _Don't be so weak! If I eliminate the other Agito, the Overlord…Masato, he can bring you back to me…be strong!_

He ran a gloved hand over his face, then froze. The operating table was empty. There came a great crash from his left, the door splintered, and a hunched-over green figure lurched out through it.

Regaining his calm, Dr. Kino slid his sunglasses back on and marched out in pursuit.

* * *

Majima Koji, final survivor of the Akatsuki incident other than Dr. Kino, watched as hospital staff buzzed like a disturbed beehive, in and out the doors, angry yells carrying out onto the street.

 _Yup. Follow Dr. Kino, and you'll find trouble; so, you wanna find Kino, just look for the trouble._

That, in fact, was who he thought the now-panicked staff were talking about as they shouted about a 'monster' roaming the hospital. Until he caught the word 'green' a few times.

 _No way…that guy?_

Sure enough, the 'monster' that came staggering out through the front entrance, the crowds fleeing in terror, was the 'imperfect Agito', Gills.

"Course it was you…" Koji saw Gills falter and rushed forwards to catch him as he reverted to Ryou's human form, helping march him off. "Hey, you're hurt pretty bad…"

"S'okay," Ryou slurred. "Lemme rest. Hospital's not safe anyway."

"Kino, I know."

"You don't have to help me…"

"You did save us before, uh…" Koji smiled awkwardly. "Before my friends all tried to kill you, and all. Sorry about that."

"You're the one that didn't. You're all right." Ryou sped up despite his injuries as the swinging front doors were thrown open behind them, the dark-clothed doctor emerging with his gaze already locked on them. "Hide," Ryou said, gripping Koji. "Gotta hide."

"Yeah, I gotcha. Lemme just…" He pulled them behind a cluster of passing salarymen, ducking into an alley. "If he didn't see us turn here, we can hide at the back." It was almost pitch-black at the far end this time of night, but it opened up a little at the end, and they were able to huddle against a boarded-up doorway just enough around the corner that they weren't visible from the road.

They let out a twin exhalation, relaxing. Above them, the buildings crowded in, a narrow box of stars high overhead the only portion of sky visible. They stared up in silence for a while before Koji spoke up.

"Is it always like this?"

"What?"

"Being an Agito? Or kind of one, anyway…no offence, man, but I haven't met you except on the brink of death. Your life seems kinda shitty."

"That's 'cause it is." Ryou felt in the dark for his hair, grunting when he found it flattened. He didn't like to make pretences, but he liked the spiked-up look. He looked boring without it, he'd always thought.

"So…what's your, like, goal? What do you wanna do with this power?"

" _Do?_ " Ryou just laughed for a minute. "Buddy, I just react. Doing my best to stay alive, that's all I can manage to do. Well, that and lose friends, girlfriends—multiple—a promising career, and a good few pints of blood, all thanks to this thing inside me."

Koji nodded, thinking he understood. "So…you wish you didn't have it?"

"Ehhh." Ryou hung his head. "More people would be dead if I didn't. So. I guess it's better this way." He gave a grim smile. "Plus, once you've lost all that, what's the point in stopping? Got no further to fall. So, I guess I'll be a big ol' hero and keep fighting." He gave a weak attempt at a dramatic wave of his still-bloodied hand. "To the last breath.

"What's it to you, kid?"

Koji jumped. "Uh?"

"You got something _you_ wanna do?"

"Ah…sounds stupid now." Koji kicked against the floor.

"Tell me, arright? Just asking what brought that on."

"Okay. Okay, so…I couldn't be what my family wanted to be, right? Just couldn't apply myself. Dumb kid, I know. Didn't have time. Medical school, man, it's years of your life. I just…wanted to show 'em I'm good for something. If I had powers like Agito, I'd be special, right?"

Ryou sighed. "You want my honest opinion?"

"Uh, okay—"

"That's dumb as shit."

"Yeah…" Koji sat back. "She said that, too."

"Mana?"

"Yeah."

"Good kid."

"She's gonna be Agito one day," Koji said. "Me too…and yeah, you guys are probably right. But then what _do_ I do with it?"

"Hopefully nothing like this."

* * *

Kino, having wandered the streets for hours, turned to head for home. Then he blinked, and the Overlord was there.

"I've looked. I can't find—"

" _You saw where they went."_

"I…"

" _There's no need to apologise."_ The Overlord placed his hands on Kino's—the one that was still his. " _I understand human weakness well. It is natural to you to seek an escape._ " His expression was deepest sympathy. " _It must be very painful for you to do this._ "

Kino drew himself up. "I do what I must. This is how humanity survives."

" _I would do it, if I could. I've tried. But…my children…I can't."_ He was gone.

 _Both of them, Kino. Steel yourself,_ said his voice in the doctor's mind.

Kino nodded firmly, did an about-face and marched towards the alleyway where he knew his quarry were hiding.

* * *

Ryou and Koji froze when they heard the footsteps; slow, methodical, unmistakeable. It was almost dawn, and they could just about make out his silhouette against the alley entrance.

Ryou heaved halfway to his feet, ignoring Koji's attempts to keep him hidden—it was clear they'd been found. "This it, then?"

"I derive no pleasure in this," Kino said, transforming without haste.

"Well I sure as hell don't," Ryou grumbled, raising his hands. "Tra— _aungh_ "

When he'd tried to transform, the dull pain lurking at the back of his mind surged to the foreground, his battered body unable to handle the stress of becoming Gills. He collapsed, cuts widening as he twisted up on the ground. Koji ran over, shaking him.

"Hey, man, get up! C'mon! Ryou…you gotta…"

"This makes things simpler," Kino said. "If there is anything you would like to say, Koji, please do so now."

"Hey…Ryou…this it?" Koji whispered. "This your 'last breath'?" He slumped over his companion. "I sorta get it now…you don't really want the power, but you need it…'cause a guy like you could get up and fight, time like this. Don't think I could…what's the point of me becoming Agito, huh? I don't want it… _you're_ the one who should—"

Mid-sentence, his body convulsed, and something ethereal and softly glowing emerged from his chest, drifting down and passing into the passed-out man below him.

Ryou's eyes opened. Gently pushing Koji back, he stood. The gentle light filled him for a moment, radiating off his body, his wounds healing. Feeling an intense heat at his chest, he tugged open his button-up, revealing the ugly blackened spot where Kino's kick had impacted him earlier was fading too.

Kino took a step back. "Koji…your Agito Seed…"

"Didn't know I could do that, but I'm happy to be rid of it," Koji said, keeping his distance too. "It's better with him."

Ryou still hadn't spoken. He hunched forwards slightly, then threw his head back and howled. His voice deepened as his body warped, until it was Gills' savage roar. But even after transforming, he kept changing. The spiked crests on his head and ankles lengthened with a lurch, and more bladed protrusions sprung out of his arms, legs, shoulders.

Kino tried to rush him before this further evolution was complete, but was too late. A pair of tentacles sprung from Gills' wrists, seizing his waist and tossing him into the air.

He twisted in mid-air, bringing his leg around and rapidly focusing his power down it, angling to land his kick again, but Gills swayed aside, snapping a bladed arm out and catching him a nasty blow across the head as he passed.

Kino rolled back down the alley, scrabbling for the wall. _He must be as strong as me now—and so fast—!_ The thing was upon him again, three quick slashes gouging deep gashes into his leathery hide, before a hard blow put him right through the wall, bricks raining down around him, half-burying him, the fallen doctor lying still.

Gills stood over him for a minute, shoulders heaving, fingers twitching, growling constantly, before he managed to regain enough self-control to become Ashihara Ryou again.

He extended a hand to Koji, leading him out of the alley. "Was a good thing you did."

"Is he, uh, dead?"

"Dunno. Wasn't really thinking. Kinda hope so." They turned onto the main street, emerging into the rising sun.

"Man…" Koji said, blinking in the light. "What do I do now? I was really holding on hope for those powers. Stupid, I know, but I got nothing else."

"You kidding? You got everything, kid. Nobody's gonna come after you anymore, without that seed. You got time, you got the world."

"Hey now, it's not so easy for this generation, y'know."

"Yeah, I happen to be part of it. But there's something out there you're good at, or love doing, or if you're very lucky, both. Go find it."

"It'd be nice. And you? What are you gonna do?"

"What I gotta. This ain't over."

"To the last breath?"

"To the end. I think…that's what we used to call a Kamen Rider."

* * *

 _And next chapter, the final instalment of this weird time-jumping look at these two days, in which we check on the police and the G3 unit!_


	13. Agito: Count 1

**Agito Chapter**

 **Count: 1**

 _For reference, lines that are in the actual Agito TV show:_

" _Officer Hikawa adores Agito." –Hojo_

" _Are you in love with Agito?" –Shouichi, to Hikawa_

" _I'd feel the same if one of my girlfriends died." –Ozawa_

 _Just so we're clear._

 _Anyway: Now for one final look at this same two days all the previous crazy stuff was happening, before we move on to the climax of the arc…_

* * *

As could be expected on an evening like this, police HQ was abuzz with activity.

"We've got Unknown reports from three different locations!"

"Back-up to all of them! Stalling tactics! And deploy the G3 Unit to the closest!"

"Um, actually…"

The commissioner stared at the file before him. "Are these orders for real?! At a time like this?"

"Straight from the top, sir." Officer Hojo Tooru saluted, the faintest trace of a smirk crossing his face. "I'll relay it to them."

* * *

"Deploy _where?_ " Ozawa swatted the orders out of her face. "That school's been closed for years!"

"Officially, yes." Hojo carefully picked up each dropped sheet of paper. "That's not quite the case. But you don't need to know the details. Time is of the essence."

"Don't be like that!" Hikawa tried to get up in Hojo's face, momentarily forgetting his injuries before wincing and sitting back down. "Just tell us already!"

"He can't," Ichijou cut in from his seat across the room, "because he doesn't know either. But he's trying to act cool, so he can feel superior."

Hojo's mouth twitched. "Regardless, that facility is under attack by an unprecedented number of Unknown and we are to deploy there _immediately._ I will require at least some of you as support—"

" _You?"_ Ozawa barked with laughter. "What have you got to do with it?"

"Neither Officer Hikawa or Ichijou are in any condition to pilot the G3-X," he explained, "leaving me as the only suitable candidate for—"

"After last time? Get real." She rose and pushed past him out of the office. "There's only one more candidate, and you're looking at her."

"I am _clearly_ —"

"Get outta my face."

As she stormed off, Ichijou stood, pulling on his coat. "Come on. We're still good for support."

* * *

The building was silent and still, the main entrance broken in. Ozawa paced through the corridors, the G3-X's headlamps lighting the way between broken or flickering light fixtures.

"Looks like we were too late," she reported.

"Stay on guard," Omuro cautioned from the G-Trailer. "Picking up a _lot_ of heat signatures. Not a one of 'em human."

"Copy." She came to the first door, tapping it open with the barrel of her pistol and edging inside. No-one. Overturned desks, a smashed computer, but no signs of life.

"Hold on." She knelt down, reaching for something half-buried under splintered wood. A single shoe; it looked…chewed. "You seeing this?"

"Y-Yeah…" Omuro answered after a moment. "We see it."

"That answers where everyone went," Ichijou said with a sigh. The Lords hadn't seemed like a threat on par with the Grongi until now, but a body-count like this…this was uncomfortably familiar.

Suddenly one of the heat signatures was a lot closer. "Ozawa, there's one right abo—"

The ceiling burst open, and the latest otherworldly horror dropped down on top of her.

She heaved forward, smashing it against the ground and loosening its grip so she could roll away. Standing, she fired a three-shot burst; one round caught the Lord in the leg, causing it to stumble in its next lunge, falling to its knees in front of her. Her next bullet went through its skull, dropping it.

Now it was dead, she was able to get a proper look. It was squat and bulky, with ant-like features, its clothing darker-hued and less regal than most Lords.

"That one went down easy," she remarked. "No halo when it died, either."

"Maybe it's a mass-produced type?" Hikawa offered. "The others in the building are giving off the exact same readings…and, uh…heading right…towards you."

"How many?"

"They're blurring together. Could be fifty, a hundred…"

"Tactical retreat it is, then."

"They're…also grouping between you and the main entrance," Omuro said. "Try the back."

"Copy." She retreated from the room and headed further down the corridor, a definite buzzing noise coming from the way she'd come in, faint but growing. She sped up, mechanical footsteps rattling the brittle floorboards.

The scuttling, buzzing sound was almost upon her as she neared the back entrance. Just before getting out, though, she stopped—there was movement in one of the rooms. She leaned in…

"Hojo?!"

He was digging through the contents of a large crate he'd pried open, in total focus. "You'd better go," he said. "They won't kill either of us normal humans, but they know that suit is a threat to them. They'll be happy to tear it up."

"And what are you doing here in the—"

"I'll deliver a full report by tomorrow," he said, waving her away. "There's no time."

Infuriatingly, he was right. She burst out the back entrance seconds before the pursuing Lords caught up with her. All identical, the antlike type, coming on in a great scrambling wave, clawing and biting. She threw them back and emptied her pistol's clip into them, creating some space before flipping out the built-in arm-blade to keep them at bay, staying on the defensive. They weren't particularly tough for Lords, but there was a whole crowd of them, and the suit was built for durability, not agility.

The trailer veered around the corner and swerved to a halt behind her, Omuro emerging from the back, just about managing to carry the GX-05 minigun in both hands. Rather than have him attempt to throw it, she fell back and took it, making a stand by the trailer to spray the oncoming horde with a rain of fire. They hissed and grew more cautious, circling and spreading out.

Before they could make a move, one near the back suddenly went down with a shriek. Then another, then two more. Something was moving through them, striking them down in single blows. It finally emerged from the crowd, tearing through the two closest Lords and stepping out in front of Ozawa: A black-armoured suit, nearly as bulky as the G3-X.

"With my thanks," the wearer said.

"Hey…" Ozawa tapped it on the chest. "Hojo? You shouldn't be wearing this! I scrapped Project G4 for a reason!"

"No need to worry about me," he said, turning back to the remaining Lords and rushing them again. He picked at the edges of the flock, herding them back into a single hissing mass, then raised one hand to the sky. A four-barrelled rocket launcher dropped from above—Ozawa looked up just in time to see the support helicopter departing.

By the time she looked back down, the rockets had already struck home and the entire crowd of Lords was blasted apart in a roaring fireball. Both she and Hojo staggered back from the aftershock, him even fumbling and dropping the empty launcher.

She grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back towards the G-Trailer. "Now take off that damn suit!"

"You're welcome," he grumbled, making an exaggerated gesture towards the burnt ground where he'd destroyed the horde.

"You're not impressive," she said bluntly. "G4 has that kind of power. I could've done the same if I'd been wearing it. But I'm not, because I'm not an idiot."

"I think you're exaggerating…"

"I _built_ it! The stress on your body will eventually reach lethal levels!"

" _I will not continue to be left behind!_ " he snarled. It was a startling break from the smug demeanour he'd carried all day. "I will carry out my duty as an officer of the law in the highest capacity I can. Besides, G4 has surpassed your design."

She headed around to the back of the trailer. "What are you talking about? You just dug that thing out of storage."

"Did that place look like a storage facility to you?" Hojo asked.

She paused. "Hey. I don't know what you're getting at, but don't tell me you found a way to…"

" _I_ didn't," he replied, composure regained. "The full details will be in my report, but yes…it has been completed."

"Bullshit." She turned around and marched back up to him, sizing the suit up. "The processing power to make it work on that kind of scale won't exist for years. Trust me. I tried."

"I can demonstrate—" Before the words had fully left his mouth, Ozawa swung a punch at his face, but he'd already begun to dodge, flawlessly moving around the blow. As if he'd known in advance it was coming. He reached up and removed his helmet, smiling slightly. "Are you satisfied?"

"I guess you weren't lying. I'll be taking a close look at that report," she said, hesitating on the verge of leaving, before oddly enough disengaging one of the G3-X's gloves, leaving her right hand bare. "Hey, Officer Hojo…remember when you replaced Hikawa piloting the original G3, only to flee from battle as soon as things got difficult, letting the Unknown escape?"

"If you want to put it like—" Ozawa gave another punch, bare hand to bare face, and his mysterious precognition seemed not to function without his helmet.

"Just so we're clear on what that was for." She climbed into the trailer, slamming the shutter down as it drove off.

* * *

"Okay, Hojo's report will be biased to the point of complete fabrication, so here's the situation," Ozawa explained, motioning everyone to crowd around the trailer's front cabin as she levered off the last few pieces of armour. "He's wearing an old project of mine. G4. On paper, it's the most powerful system I ever created."

"More than G3-X?" Hikawa asked. "Why would you abandon it for something less effective?"

"I never completed the AI required to run it. The movements are too fast for a human brain, the actions too forceful. And the kind of computer that it'd require…it'd have to pretty much know everything that was going to happen. That kind of moment-to-moment probability-extrapolation software just doesn't exist yet."

"But…you still built the whole suit," Ichijou said.

"I was drunk. I was on a roll. What do you want from me?"

"You designed and constructed police equipment while _drunk_?" Ichijou seemed to be the only person surprised by this.

Ozawa snorted, tossing the suit's helmet into the far corner. "Do you know how I solved a block while working on G3-X? I went out and got hammered with that Tsugami guy. Stumbled back to HQ in a daze and finished the design that night."

"Tsugami….Shouichi, right? Hikawa mentioned him."

"We're not that close," Hikawa clarified.

"No, your one true love is Agito, right?" Ozawa teased.

"Hey—"

"Where is the lie?"

"Look, just because I happen to believe he's on our side—"

"'Officer Hikawa adores Agito'," Omuro quoted. "That's in an official report. Truest words Hojo ever wrote."

Ozawa continued her explanation while Hikawa dissolved into protesting stammers. "Anyway, Hojo or someone working with him has found some way to make the predictive system work. But even then, it puts too much strain on both the mind and the body. If he keeps using it, it'll kill him."

"That's awful!" Hikawa exclaimed, a little redundantly.

"Well, if it had to be someone, Hojo…" She briefly entertained the thought. "No, it wouldn't be good to let an officer die. Maybe even more concerning, though, is what comes next." She held up a hand at their odd looks. "Not in the afterlife sense. With the data it's picked up from Hojo's consciousness, if he dies while in the suit, it could well keep going on its own, and without an operator won't listen to orders. Might even happen while he's still alive. It's smart."

"At least it'll keep fighting the Unknown, right?" Omuro said.

"It'll fight _something._ That's all it knows how to do."

* * *

As expected, Hojo was insufferable. While the G3 Unit nursed their injuries and tried to focus on their regular, day-to-day work, he _pranced_ up and down the station, giving everyone looks that implied that he _could_ at any moment launch into a lengthy recounting of his magnificent achievements today, _and in the spirit of politeness you would have to listen_ , but he was choosing, in his infinite kindness, to spare you.

"It still doesn't add up…" Ichijou drummed his fingers on the temporary desk he'd been given. "How did they get the predictive system to work? It's probably got something to do with that building the Unknown attacked. Why was G4 there in the first place?"

"Yeah." Ozawa slid her chair over. "Unknown only attack psychics and Agito, right? But they cleared out that whole building. Was everyone inside one or the other?"

"Maybe that's why there were so many," Hikawa offered. "We've never encountered more than a handful before. I'm glad those other simultaneous sightings were fought off…Agito's still out there fighting for us!"

Ichijou shared his smile. "I wouldn't doubt the Riders are helping out, too. But, back to the point…"

"The answers are in G4," Ozawa said. "I need to get to it. But Hojo will pounce for sure…"

"Let him. I'll slip past while you're frustrating him like only you can. The helmet will be enough?"

"Uh, yeah. Can you really hide that thing?"

"I'll think of something, probably…"

Shortly, he was taking a roundabout route towards the storage room where the G4 suit was being held, while Ozawa made a direct and obvious beeline for it. Sure enough, Hojo swooped in from the side, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards. "Can I help you?"

She sighed. "Might as well be honest. I was hoping for a look at G4. I was concerned about you."

"No, you weren't."

"Ugh! No, I wasn't."

He shrugged. "There's no need to hide your dislike for me. It's only natural, for petty people like you to find greatness unpleasant…"

"You're despicable."

"I'm this precinct's best, right now. I might even be your whole unit's replacement. But I might be willing to tell you a little about how we've got G4 working…" He had no actual interest in Ozawa, in that sense. But he couldn't pass up saying it, for her reaction. "…over dinner with me? Our shifts finish right about now. There's a newly-opened French restaurant just a couple blocks down, very romantic…"

Her irritation visibly boiled over into full-on anger—then just as quickly, it vanished as she saw Ichijou emerge from the storage room, then freeze awkwardly as he realised he was now standing directly behind Hojo, holding the G4 helmet in full view.

She was just wracking her brain for a way of keeping Hojo from looking around (knock him out? No, she'd received a caution after last time) when Ichijou _threw_ the helmet in an overhead arc. Right as it was directly over Hojo's head, Ichijou tapped him on the shoulder, Hojo turning to face him just as the helmet flew right past Ozawa and smacked Hikawa in the chest—he'd been watching the whole spectacle, but hadn't expected Ichijou's sudden manoeuvre and went down with the helmet, hurriedly rolling behind a desk just as Hojo finished a couple moments' awkward conversation with Ichijou and turned back around.

Somehow, the farcical on-the-spot plan had worked, but now she had to get rid of this jackass.

"Let me be clear: I will never interact with you for one second longer than is necessary. But…" She dug out her phone, flipped it open and started dialling. "That restaurant does sound nice. I think I'll take someone there."

He took on an exaggerated contemplative look. "If you're calling him, he's not on the force…I never figured you for someone with a personal life, Oza—"

"Officer Hojo, would you shut up please? I'm talking to my girlfriend."

"You're joking."

She ignored him, walking off while talking into the phone. "Hey, babe. What? No, just some jerk, ignore that. Yeah, I get off right about now. Hey, I know we made dinner plans, but apparently there's this new French restaurant..."

* * *

Ozawa locked the office door and set the G4 helmet on the central table. "Girlfriend's working late, I've got a couple hours. I've signed us all up for the night shift. We're going to crack this."

"Why do we have to be here?" Omuro complained.

"Well, strictly speaking _you_ don't, but I wouldn't want you to feel left out." She slapped a toolbox onto the table and set to work dismantling the helmet.

She seemed to take particular interest in the back the inside, digging around until she found a specific panel and levering it open. Lying beneath was something that could have almost been a microchip, were most of it not transparent—glass. She gently removed it, holding it up for them all to see with a grave expression.

"Uh…what's that?" Hikawa asked.

"A slide. In the biology sense. It's a container for a thin slice of living cells." She carefully put it back in and started screwing the helmet back together. "Most likely…human brain cells."

"Wait…don't tell me…"

Ichijou sat back, putting a hand over his eyes. "We know a biological system for predicting the future…those with psychic powers. The ones the Unknown are hunting, so they don't become Agito."

She saw what he was getting at. "So everyone in that building _was_ a psychic. Some kind of government program to complete G4…hey, you don't think…" She tapped the helmet. "They've got to have put some kind of safeguard in. Or made sure there's not enough of a human brain in the chip for the Unknown to register it as a psychic and be drawn to it."

"Would they? That school was full of psychics, and was attacked just like you'd expect. The project must have begun before we knew that was what they targeted. So, in all likelihood—"

The conclusion they were about to reach was confirmed by the sudden medley of crashes and screams from down the hall. Ozawa snatched up the G4 helmet and threw the door open. "Omuro, with me. I'll need help suiting up. You two, you're still not recovered, lock the door when we're gone and don't go anywhere."

Stepping out into the corridor, headquarters was in a state of full evacuation. The action seemed to be downstairs, but first they headed for the G3-X's storeroom. Every second it took to put on piece by piece was torturous, as the sounds of violence from downstairs grew louder and more vicious.

Finally it was on, and she headed for the stairs alone. A shadow on the wall alerted her and she already had her pistol raised as the ant-drone Lord scuttled into view, but it was quickly felled from behind, Hojo stomping up the steps behind it, bareheaded but otherwise suited up as G4.

"I'm not going to ask where you got that helmet," he said, "but I need it. Give it here."

She held it up. "This is what they're after. You'll become their target."

"That's good. It'll be easier to defeat them all that way. That should put a significant dent in the Unknown's total numbers."

She thought it over, before tossing it to him. "Do what you want." Then she shoved past him, and descended the stairs into the maelstrom.

* * *

The first few seconds were the most chaotic, aiming and firing faster than thought, slapping Unknown after Unknown back with a backhanded metal fist. Once she reached where the G3-X's minigun was stored on the wall, things became much simpler. She strode through the precinct, mowing the monsters down in droves. Hojo was working through the other side of the room, moving through the Unknown with the casual ease of someone who could see his opponents' moves in advance.

They drove the diminishing horde back towards the entrance, kicking stragglers through the glass front of the building and pursuing them out into the parking lot (now empty of cars after a hurried evacuation). Ozawa suddenly got the sense she was doing more of the work, having to throw in more occasional kicks and swings with the base of the gun between shots to keep the creatures at bay…yes, in fact, it was all her now. What was Hojo doing?

As it turned out, he was bent over, arms hanging loose, hissing out ragged breaths. "Idiot," she growled under her breath, sending another spray of bullets into the Unknown and jogging over to him. "This is what I warned you about! Your body's starting to break down."

"I can handle it…" he slurred. "Just…just give me a…"

"You picked a damn time to grow a spine. Get _out_ of—" Her gaze alighted on two taller figures amidst the thinning crowd of monsters. More regally dressed, standing up straight, one carrying a pike-length trident, the other flexing clawed hands.

"Looks like king and queen ant showed up," she said, checking her ammo count. "Shape up or bail out, Hojo."

He didn't respond, so she turned her attention back to the approaching pair, turning her hail of fire on them, to little effect. They waded through the storm of bullets, thirty feet, twenty, ten.

Then there came the roar of an engine, and something flashed by: Somewhere between a bike and a great horned insect, its rider gleaming red, slamming its chariot-like horns into the spear-wielding queen Lord and carrying her through and out the car-park and off into the night.

Watching from the window upstairs, Ichijou breathed easier upon seeing this, dropping his phone back into his pocket. _He made it in time._

* * *

Godai didn't ease up on the throttle until he'd passed into the woods, abruptly hitting the brakes and swerving to a halt, the queen Lord retaining the bike's momentum and flying off through the trees, felling several with her deadly flailing limbs. He dismounted, electric sparks running up and down Kuuga's body, adding gold highlights and touches and filling him with power.

 _Kind of like the Grongi, but they act so different. There's no personal gain, no blood-game or anything…they just blindly do what that man says. Well…in the end, it doesn't matter._

 _There are people crying because of you. You have to be destroyed._

* * *

Ozawa had run through the minigun's ammo supply right as the 'king ant' Unknown was preparing to make its final spring towards her; she tossed the gun away and met the monster's leap with pistol and wrist-mounted sword, meeting its ferocious strength and holding steady with the suit's heavy frame.

She twisted her hand inwards and got a shot off into the side of its head at point-blank, stunning it and letting her smack its hands away, both of them raking their blades down the other's body, the Unknown flinching back a little as G3-X fell away, warning symbols blaring.

Before the Unknown could make another move, though, Hojo came barrelling forward, ducking and weaving around its swipes, grunting as each prediction wore at his mind. He came up behind it, grabbing it around the waist. "I'll hold it! Fire now!"

 _Maybe I misjudged you._ She snapped the launcher extension onto the pistol, drawing a bead on the thrashing, roaring Unknown.

"Just—just don't hit me, got it?"

 _Never mind._ She fired, scoring a clean hit, the detonation blossoming on the monster's chest…to little effect. It flinched and flailed some more, hammering blows back into the G4 suit.

Ozawa lowered the gun, thinking for a second. "Don't let go, Hojo."

"W-What?" His voice was shaking as he called back, ducking his head down to avoid another backwards swipe.

"You had some heavier ordnance earlier. I'm gonna go get that out of storage, but I'll need a minute. So keep him entertained."

"Are you serious? I'll—" He was cut off by a sharp blow that threw him off the Unknown. It stood between them, breath filling the air with steam, before slowly craning its head back around towards him, ignoring Ozawa, who was already heading back inside. _The prediction chip…!_

He scrambled up and back, the chip letting him dodge for a while, but he was starting to slow down and eventually it clipped him, spinning him off-balance. It didn't waste the chance, lunging in and gripping with both hands, claws digging into armour. He threw a short-range punch into its gut, to no effect at all.

 _Is this it? Humanity's limit…when the Unknown decide to get serious, and send monsters like this at us…no matter what we build, we can't—_

"Yeah, right there." A symphony of thunderous noise and scorching heat erupted all around them, up was down and left was right, and half a minute passed in a flash of confused senses. Hojo was lying on tarmac. His eyes refocused, the ringing in his ears died down. Small fires still burned around him. Parts of the ground were bubbling. He raised his head and shoulders, the extra weight of the movement reminding him of the armour.

Ozawa had been waiting to see what emerged from the smoke. She'd got the angle right; Hojo was battered but alive, and there was nothing left of the king Unknown; its explosion had been masked by the far larger one she'd caused. She lowered the steaming, quad-barrelled rocket launcher, surveying her victory with quite the smug look. G3-X and the launcher weren't synced up, so she'd had to remove the suit's helmet and eyeball the aim. _Worked, though. Course it did. I built all this._

"What," Hojo hissed, "do you call _that_ —"

"Effective," she said, dragging him up. "C'mon, to medical with you." She started heading back for the station, expecting him to follow. "We'll call everyone back, you can file an official complaint which I'll ignore…hey, you coming?"

He'd taken a step forward, but not as smoothly as he'd planned. Now his back arched suddenly, limbs jerking, fingers twitching. Like a puppet with tangled strings.

* * *

Godai fell back against his bike, toppling it over, gasping. The queen-ant Lord was unbelievably strong.

 _But…_ He straightened up, locking his gaze on it. _There were Grongi much worse than this._ "Up 'till now I've had to be careful about releasing too much of Kuuga's power." He spread his stance, an identical copy of the golden brace on his right leg forming on his left. "But there's a reason I drove us out here. There's no-one around for a long way." Ten times normal human senses assured him of that. "So…" More sparks coursed through his body, and his chest-carapace faded from red to black.

* * *

Ozawa didn't miss a beat at the pillar of flame rising into the sky from the distant forest. Kuuga was doing his job. This was hers.

Hojo didn't seem to be conscious anymore. Whether he was even alive wasn't clear. This was purely G4. Every time she drew near, it twitched, spinning awkwardly to face her and lashing out wildly.

"Shit…" _I told him this would happen._ She checked her pistol's ammo count, slowly circling the lurching suit. _It's not making reasoned decisions, like 'friend' or 'foe'. It's purely acting out combat protocols whenever a target presents itself. If I don't stop it, it'll kill anyone it comes across._

"I brought you into this world…guess I have to see you out." She fired a few shots to confirm; it was as mobile as ever, and none of them touched it. "All right…"

 _How do you beat something that knows the future in real-time?_

 _Cheat._

"No matter how powerful the psychics that gave you cells were, projecting an accurate recreation of moving three-dimensional space around you that quickly is taxing. You can only process a simulation three seconds in advance. So…" She fired, seemingly randomly, up at the building behind, emptying the clip then throwing the gun aside and rushing G4. She kept up a ferocious speed so it was so pressured to defend it barely got the chance to hit back. "…all I have to do…" She waited for it to block a punch of hers that would've hit without the prediction system, thus altering the projected future—and struck with her other hand in that tiny moment while it recalculated to produce a new prediction, a clean shot to the face knocking it in a full staggering circle. "…is plan your defeat further in advance than that."

A shower of glass and concrete from where she'd shot the building rained down on G4, its agitated movements growing more and more random as its system was flooded with trying to map out the path of hundreds of individual fragments. In the midst of its confusion, Ozawa stepped in, digging her gauntlets into the sides of the helmet and tearing the entire front half off, doing the same with the back and stomping both into a shattered mess against the ground. Hojo collapsed, eyes still rolled back but breathing uneasily.

"Idiot…" Ozawa slumped down next to him, levering her suit off a piece at a time. "A minute more and you'd be dead." She gave his body an idle kick. "Is this enough to convince you to not mess with my shit when I tell you not to mess with my shit?"

* * *

It was getting on into night proper. The whole station was abuzz with activity, the force returned, assessment for repairs underway. Ozawa had slipped away from the medics and was sitting in the back of the G-Trailer with the rest of the G3 Unit, the doors open to the night sky, their legs dangling over the lip and nearly brushing the ground. Godai was behind Ichijou and fussing around him with blankets, food, drinks; Hikawa and Omuro nursed a coffee each, while Ozawa was just finishing a beer and reaching back for the next, somewhere among the pile of cans she'd already emptied since sitting down.

"I think it turned out okay," Godai offered, giving a vacant-looking smile.

"How did it?!" Hikawa said, staring at him.

"I suppose we did dispose of a lot of Unknown," Ichijou said. "And learned the extent to which they'll hunt any trace of potential Agito, and destroyed said trace so this won't happen again."

"I think you mean _I_ did most, possibly all of that," Ozawa said, locating the last full can and popping it open. "By the way, I hear Hojo could be out of action for months."

Hikawa's face fell. "And he's always working so hard…he'll be devastated."

"He sure will." Ozawa grinned. "Sometimes, life gives you something beautiful."

Ichijou waited until she'd drained the can and laid back in a moment of serene satisfaction before delivering a precisely-timed reminder. "…so you had a date?"

"Ahh!" She sat bolt upright, grabbing Hikawa's wrist to read the time, then Omuro's when it turned out the former didn't have a watch. "Ten minutes!" She disappeared into the trailer—then the rest of the team had to dive out of the way as she flew out the hatch and into the car-park on G3's bike.

Omuro started towards her. "I don't think you're cleared for—"

"I built it, it's mine!" She swerved around him and sped off down the road, vanishing into the night.

"Don't…don't drink and drive…" Hikawa mumbled.

* * *

 _Midday, the following day…_

Kaoru Kino dragged himself out of the alley, covered in dirt, blood and sweat. _This can't be my limit! There are still so many of them left. I must be the strongest!_

And then he was there. The Overlord.

"Please…I'm sorry, I failed…give me another—"

" _Calm down._ " He held out an open palm, a gentle glow dulling Kino's pain. " _I will not abandon you simply for losing. You are human. Weakness is in your nature. And as long as you are still willing to help, I have no reason not to accept."_ He handed over a slip of paper. _"One has presented himself to you. This was delivered to your last known residence."_

Kino scanned the message, keeping his expression steady.

 _Please come and meet me at the above location. I don't want to fight you but, well, if we do I'll win. Sorry. So please let's just talk. I think all Agito should be friends. Actually I'm working on a sort of club…I'll tell you about it when we meet, I guess._

 _Please don't try to hurt or kill anyone else or anything until we meet._

— _Tsugami Shouichi (or Sawaki Tetsuya?)_

" _Eliminate him."_ The Overlord was gone, his voice carrying to Kino on the wind. _"With his personality, it should be easy. You will be one step closer to your reward. And don't worry about that, I'll provide it as promised. I don't begrudge you your human selfishness, either…"_

Kino gripped his shaking arm, his teeth chattering.

* * *

 _Two more Agito chapters remain!_


	14. Agito: Count Zero

**Agito Chapter:**

 **Count Zero**

* * *

Yukina had found her way back to the docks, sitting with her legs over the lip of the wall, barely a metre above the water. The sea was calming. It didn't have to worry about where it was going. As soon as it got here, it'd start heading right back, a path it had taken countless thousands of times.

"Yo."

Godai came up almost silently and sat cross-legged beside her, a small box of something under one arm. There was something slightly off about his movements, she noticed now he was this close. A certainty that wasn't quite human.

"How'd you find me?" She turned away, pulling up the coat she didn't remember buying around her.

"Kuuga tells me things. Heightened senses. It's only really on the surface when I transform, but it's always there, like background noise." He looked at her with a sad understanding. "Sorrow has a…flavour, I guess, is the closest word we have for it?" There was probably a Linto word describing the sensation more accurately. "I wish I didn't recognise it so instantly, but last year was…" He tried to finish the sentence, but the words wouldn't come. "Last night was crazy for all of us, I think."

She gave something close enough to a laugh to satisfy him, and he held out the box—fresh bread rolls. "A change from Shouichi's vegetables, right?"

"Tetsuya," she barely said.

"I think he's still deciding on that…anyway." He set the box down between them. "You seem pretty lost."

She looked out at the sea for a while before finding the words. "Why was I brought back?"

"Because you shouldn't have died."

"No, I…what reason did he have?"

"It's cruel, but to fight the Lords, I guess."

"Okay. Let's say we win. Then what?"

"Live. Like you were gonna."

"I tried!" There was a snarl behind the words. "I tried to make myself. It's not the same. It's—something's gone."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I came." He sat back. "Because you're a person who's lost their smile.

"Like…I found my way back. To how it was, more or less. I'm not the same, but I can live quietly, sometimes. I have to leave more than I used to, find new things to keep busy with, but…I can go back. But that's easy for me to say, right? What I went through's not what you went through."

"Not unless you died for a while, no."

"I meeeean…" He shrugged. "Medically, technically, for a couple hours? Not really."

She didn't feel like pressing the issue, accepted it as part of his strangeness. "You sounded like you were building to somewhere."

"Yeah. I got sidetracked," he admitted, smiling. "What I wanna say is, I want you to be able to go back. If you could manage a peaceful life, somehow, I think that'd make you happiest. But if you can't…I know some people like that.

"They lost everything, or they couldn't face going back to what they had. So they went forwards, alone. But now there's enough of them that they're never really alone. They're out there right now, giving up their happiness for everyone else's."

She chewed the coat's collar, fidgeting where she sat, one hand unconsciously reaching for the offered food. "That sounds nice. I'm glad people like that exist."

"I think, if you wanted, you could be like that. It might be the path forward you're looking for." He looked over at her, tried to read her expression without success. "It's not an easy life. I'm not gonna force it on you. But if you do make that choice…'Kamen Rider Agito' sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?"

The distinctive Cyclone engine sound briefly preceded Ichimonji swerving to a halt around the corner, waving to them. "Oi! Seen Shouichi?"

"Not since yesterday!" Godai called back, while Yukina shook her head, not looking around.

"Damn…he's not at the Professor's house, and no-one's seen him…and if there was a Lord around, Yukina would have sensed it." He nodded to her, then looked back the way he came. "He's got to be doing something stupid…that guy's such a pain." He went to knock away the kickstand, then stopped, his face twisting up in sudden agony. He almost fell off his bike, gasping and clinging to it.

"Mr. Ichimonji!" Godai jumped up and ran over; Yukina turned and watched with an impassive expression. "Are you all right? What happened?" Godai asked, helping Ichimonji back into a riding position.

"Thanks…I'm fine…I just need a…" the Rider forced air through his system, flipping his visor up to get more of the breeze on his sweat-drenched face. "It happens sometimes. Especially after tough fights like last night. It's a side-effect of being made of machinery that hasn't been properly maintained in thirty years. Like Hongo's appearance ageing like a normal human's. I stay looking young…" He patted his chest. "The breakdown's all in here." Something was vaguely fading into view on his face; a pattern of jagged lines…scars?...spidering out from his eyes. He shook his head, and they vanished. "I'm fine now. I'll be fine."

"Does Hongo—"

"No. It's the only secret I have from him. _Don't_ tell him."

"I think it's important!"

"He'll worry. He'll start covering for me. He'll put himself at risk. I can't let him…we have to be equal partners. We'd be dead a hundred times over by now if it wasn't for that." He slapped himself in the face, slamming his visor down. "Forget about it. We have to find Shouichi."

* * *

Kino crept into the warehouse, the old, still air dense in his lungs. "Tsugami!" He kept to the shadows for now, moving as soon as he spoke. He didn't suspect the simple-minded Tsugami of any duplicity, but couldn't say the same of most of his comrades.

"I'm here!" came the reply. A pair of waving arms, the only movement in the dusty building, were easy to instantly spot. Kino swept his whole field of vision for any lurking ambushers before finally advancing towards the centre of the spacious area.

Tsugami Shouichi was sitting at a picnic table he'd set up, holding out a huge basket of vegetables, his usual gormless smile adorning his face. "I'm glad you came!"

"What…is this?"

"Uh…a present. Since we've fought before. I thought if I apologised for trying to hit you back then, it might help." He snapped his fingers, putting the basket down. "Oh, the table, right? Just in case you were hungry and decided to eat some of it here."

Kino almost wanted to yell at the sheer ridiculousness of it, but decided this was simply how some people were. And he _was_ still rather tired. So he sat, with a little reluctance. "I was the aggressor. Why are _you_ apologising?"

Shouichi sat too, folding his arms and looking self-important. "Someone has to, and you're the grumpy serious type. You're not apologising, right?"

"Of course not! I serve a higher—"

"Right, you're not. So I gotta. Awful selfish of you."

Kino swept the basket off the table, leaning forward, Shouichi's reflection distorting in the black lenses. "What do you hope to achieve here?"

"I guess…I wanted to know if there's any way I can make you stop targeting us. Whatever this Overlord guy offered you, it's not worth killing people over."

"Don't say that like you know anything!"

"So tell me and I _will_ know!"

Kino slammed his hands onto the table to push himself up, rolling up his sleeve and showing off the scar on his arm. "This is my brother's. The storm that took mine, took him." _The Overlord will bring him back._ It didn't need to be said.

"Man…" Shouichi said after a while. "You kinda piss me off, actually. People like you are the reason the Overlord is so down on humans."

Kino's fists clenched. "What was that?!"

"Sacrificing all those lives for the sake of one…that's just selfish, no matter how you look at it."

"I thought you came to make peace!"

"I might have got a little off-track…"

"Enough of this stupidity!" Kino stepped back, crossing his arms in front of him. "I will complete my mission, and receive my reward."

Shouichi held up a cautioning hand. "Please, don't do that. I just got this new, uh, evolution. You won't win this time."

Kino's mouth set into a grim line. " _Transform._ " His corrupted Agito form burst forth from his human body, his clawed hands flexing in preparation for the kill.

"Also," Shouichi said as Kino vaulted over the table at him, a sudden blinding flash lighting the young man from behind, "you smashed the vegetables I spent so much time growing all over the floor. I don't think I can make myself pull my punches after that…"

And then Kino was face-down on the floor, a shining silver Agito standing over him. The pain slowly separated out into three distinct points. _What kind of speed was that…?_

Shouichi released his held breath, powering down as Kino's injuries forced him out of Agito form too. "I told you not to do that." He crouched in front of Kino. "I do understand, actually. I lost my sister."

"And you wouldn't—"

"I don't know! Maybe I'd be just as bad as you, in that situation. I don't know. But the point is, she came back. I got what you're reaching for. And look, it's hard enough for her to readjust already. How do you think she'd feel if I'd killed a bunch of people to get her back? How would _either_ of us feel, every time we saw each other? When people are in a dark place…they do stupid things. It's not their fault, but they do. She…they hurt themselves…" He held out a hand to Kino, his face pleading. "They hurt other people. Please, stop."

"You're saying…" Kino rolled over onto his back, his shades falling off. "If he comes back, knowing what I did…"

"You've already hurt plenty of people. Are you going to add yourself and your brother to that list?"

 _Could I make you carry that burden, Masato?_

His grafted arm twitched, and finally relaxed.

"What should I do?"

"Whatever you want. Live for yourself for once. Enjoy life." Shouichi grinned, helping the bulky doctor up off the floor. "Maybe come by for dinner sometime."

"You're not going to ask me to fight with you?"

"Well, it's not like it wouldn't be helpful. But that'd be too cruel. There's probably things you want to do, and I can't suddenly ask you to risk your life for us like that."

Kino straightened his coat, almost smiling. "You're truly naïve, Tsugami."

"Sure," Shouichi said. "But I think I'm finally strong enough to get away with it."

There was a long pause. A slow shift in posture. "Before he made the offer, what I was originally doing with this power...was protecting humanity from the Lords, with my own hands. I will never stray from that path again."

Shouichi's eyes sparkled. "Mr. Kino, you—"

" _What is this?"_

The Overlord was there, in the doorway. _"You turn from my light, Kino? What has he promised you?"_

"It is only as you have seen. He has shown me the way out of the circle I was running in…the path to the future."

" _Nothing? Ridiculous. Never have I met a human whose 'nobility' was more than a sham."_

"Your children grew up when you weren't looking." Kino was already transformed and leaping for the Overlord—who snapped his fingers, a lean spine-covered Lord tackling Kino out of the air, the two of them rolling off to the side as the Overlord paced towards Shouichi.

" _You have caused me far too much trouble, Agito."_

"Good!" Shouichi brought his hands out in front to transform—and froze, back arching as a wave of pain shot through his body, focusing in his stomach, from which emerged a dazzling sphere of white light. It flew through the air and alighted in the Overlord's outstretched hand, sinking beneath his skin.

The pale, deep-eyed man shuddered as he absorbed the Seed of Agito, holding his head and breathing through gritted teeth. _"I had no desire to…come into contact with part of_ him _…but you forced my hand."_

"Him…?" Shouichi knew, instinctively, what was gone. "Now you mention it…on the boat, there was a guy who looked like you, dressed in white. He made me Agito—he changed everyone there."

" _His Agito Seed is what infects mankind. It turns you into more."_ The Overlord scowled. _"Even after I defeated him, he's still trying to pull you away from me…return to me."_ Shouichi wasn't sure if the Overlord was talking specifically to him, or as if to all of humanity. _"Return and live as I intended."_

"Too late for that." Ryou strolled in the doorway, tossing his coat away behind him. "Even before becoming Agito, humans are so much more than you think." He looked a little smug, doing his best not to smile. "Even the lowest washed-up jerk like me." His attention now turned to Shouichi. "Damn it, Tsugami, I came to give the doc another kickin' and you've already got him on-side? Eh, guess I'll have to settle for beating on…I dunno, god, or whoever you are," he said, Gills bursting forth as he ran at the Overlord.

The ethereal man's hand flicked out and he dragged out Ryou's Agito Seed as well, forcing it into himself and gasping at the effort of containing two at once. Ryou, meanwhile, lost a lot of speed and tumbled onto his face, cursing loudly.

"Aw, c'mon!" Shouichi groaned, running over to him and pulling him off the ground. "You made such a cool entrance and you lost already?"

"You didn't tell me he could do that!" Ryou spluttered.

"Oh yeah…"

The Lord across the room got an unoccupied moment and swung to face them, firing off a volley of six-inch spines—Kino slid into their path just in time, smacking most of them away, a few digging into his arms which he promptly tore out, ignoring the trickles of black blood hitting the dusty floor.

"Consider us even," he growled, flexing his arms and widening his stance, a green glow swirling around his feet as his power built to its maximum. He leapt and threw his full-force kick into the over-extended Lord, launching it back into the far wall, its explosion blowing a huge hole open and letting the sunlight stream in.

He turned to the Overlord. "You seem to be having trouble holding in two Agito Seeds at once. Can you manage thr—" The words died in his throat, his Agito form vanishing as his Seed too was ripped out of him, vanishing into the Overlord, who staggered, choked, shuddered, but endured.

" _Do not speak to me so lightly,"_ he said. _"I am older and greater than you can conceive…I have seen things beyond your comprehension…the Century Kings, the Fog Mother, the Grongi death-games, the Sealing Stone,_ worlds outside…" He seemed to be babbling, throwing words out to distract himself from the pain.

He drew himself up. _"There is no further need for us to fight. Now you cannot become Agito, there is no problem."_ He turned—

—to find himself staring straight down the barrel of the G3-X suit's pistol.

"There's no need to explain the situation," Ozawa said. "My helmet's audio range is 15 kilometres. I heard everything. And you're going to return what you took from them."

His face became a mask of cold fury. _"Do not think you can say such things, human. I am your creator."_

"Sure. And you're under arrest." She dropped her aim to his legs and fired, but the rounds glanced off an invisible barrier.

" _Your tools will not avail you."_ He snapped his fingers and she was flung back, rolling upright and speaking over her radio. "Commence simultaneous attack."

" _What was—"_ Another wall collapsed as the G-Trailer smashed its way in, Hikawa leaping out and rolling away as the truck ploughed directly into the Overlord, sending him reeling away as he wildly lashed out with his mental power, tearing it apart. There was a visible ripple in the air around him after the impact his shield had taken, and Ozawa didn't waste the moment. She moved up in his blind-spot and right as he turned to face her shoved the missile—meant to clip onto one of the suit's guns for ranged use—right into his shield, hitting the manual detonator then immediately releasing that arm of the suit and throwing herself back as the explosive went off, disintegrating the armour-piece she'd abandoned. The Overlord appeared, stern-faced and unmoved, but there—there—a tiny crack in his shield. She rose again, bringing the high-speed vibrating knife to bear and ramming it into the crack, feeling a tiny bit of give. Then a lot of give. Then he took on a horrified expression as she drove it through, the barrier shattering entirely.

" _What power is this? What are you?"_ he demanded, splaying out both hands, the wildly-aimed wave of mental force catching a glancing hit to her still-armoured shoulder and spinning her halfway around, forcing her to eject the rest of the suit's upper body as it was shunted back across the warehouse or risk have an arm go with it.

"We're…just human," Hikawa coughed, sitting up.

"Damn right." Ozawa took one step in, spun the Overlord towards her and punched him clean in the nose.

He shrieked, falling away holding his face, body shuddering this way and that—and, stress limit reached, three Seeds of Agito emerged, flying back into their respective owners, who felt their own vitality returning.

There was no actual motion; simply, between one heartbeat and the next, the Overlord was standing again, and back in the centre of the room. _"You have made me very angry."_

"Good," Ryou said. "Ready?"

"Yeah!" Shouichi said, jumping to his side. Kino made his way over without a word, the three forming a line.

From outside, Sawaki Tetsuya—the other Tsugami Shouichi—watched with a resigned expression as the three Agito adopted their individual poses, calling out a unified " _Transform_!"

* * *

 _Next chapter, the conclusion of the Agito arc, and then on to Ryuki._


	15. Agito XII: To Tomorrow

**Agito Chapter**

 **Part 12: To Tomorrow**

* * *

 _Before humans had fire to huddle around, before there were words in their mouths, there were the brothers._

 _They both loved humanity, but in very different ways. Darkness wanted them to remain the same, to remain his. Light wanted them to become greater, brighter._

 _They hated each other. They fought. Darkness won, for Light's power was no longer all his. He had shared it to his brother's children, to one day mature and let them grow._

 _This is the Seed of Agito. It has matured. On that boat, Light's last remnant appeared to give the final push to a few nearly-evolved humans. Among them, Kaoru Kino and, as he was originally known, Sawaki Tetsuya. Others, Sawaki Yukina and Ashihara Ryou, reached maturity on their own. Some are flawed or incomplete, but they all contain the essence of Light. And now they gather, to re-enact that battle, to bring everything full-circle whether they know it or not._

 _Is this what you wanted me to witness?_

These are the thoughts of Sawaki Tetsuya, once Tsugami Shouichi.

Tsugami Shouichi, once Sawaki Tetsuya, fights alongside two other Agito against the Overlord—Darkness—and his strongest creations, the El Lords of the Wind and the Ground. Their countenance is beautiful and terrible, perfect angelic warriors in the mould of a hawk and a lion.

Shouichi's Agito form has evolved to a similar state of shining perfection, but against both of them even he is outmatched, while the Overlord himself keeps the other two Agito from intervening.

They cannot win. They will be killed, and the Overlord will continue his cull of humanity's potential.

These are the observations of Sawaki Tetsuya.

"That's—"

"—not true!" Shouichi yelled, shoving the El aside and turning for the doorway where Tetsuya stood.

"You…" Tetsuya stared in confusion. _Through my connection to the Overlord? To think an Agito has evolved to this level…_

"I won't let something like that happen." Shouichi passed his hands over his belt, summoning the form's twin blades and blocking the next swing of the Ground El's sword, pushing it back—but two of the shafts of pure light loosed from the Wind El's bow dug into him at the same moment, drawing a gasp and a stumble. The Ground El pressed back in and he retreated, keeping his guard up.

Ryou and Kino were having it even worse, meanwhile, being thrown around by waves of invisible force every time they tried to get close to the Overlord.

" _It's useless. Your resistance only drags this out."_

"Don't tell me what to do, asshole…" Ryou sprang back in, being repulsed again.

"This is getting us nowhere," Kino said, holding him back from making another try. "But with Tsugami's new power, maybe he can do something. Try and get one of the Lords away from him."

"Huh? But this—"

"Leave the Overlord to me." Kino squared off against his former master, darting in the way as Ryou ran off to where Shouichi was fighting. "You will not pass me."

" _I am bored of you."_ The Overlord clenched a fist and Kino was slammed into the ground as if by a great weight.

He rose, blood dripping through the interlocking plates of his Agito form's carapace. "I mean what I said."

Ryou tackled the Wind El from behind, dragging it sideways and throwing off its aim, its next shot missing Shouichi.

"Ryou! Thanks!" Now with his attention undivided, Shouichi turned one blade to deflect the Ground El's strike, swiping the other low across its stomach and driving it away with an ugly mark across its stone-like skin. Silent but for the Agito's steady breath they duelled, three swords dancing in the low light, both of Shouichi's finally finding their mark and carving another, X-shaped, gouge in the Lord.

Ryou wasn't doing as well, his tentacles shot out of the air, his claws turned aside with ease, and when he went in for a bite, he found himself staring right at the glimmering point of a notched arrow, ducking backwards just in time for it to scrape along his chest instead of impaling him entirely. He collapsed onto his back and it stamped a foot down onto him, holding him in place while it aimed another arrow at point-blank range, targeting his throat. He thrashed and roared, trying to pull away, but its strength seemed insurmountable.

Then Kino came diving over, shoving it off him; the arrow burned a hole into the ground two inches to Ryou's left, the heat searing him just from proximity. He stood next to Kino, both grabbing the bow as it was levelled at them and forcing it up to leave the Lord's torso exposed, then both swivelling and planting a standing kick into its side, knocking it to the ground.

Which was when another burst of the Overlord's power took them through the wall like bowling pins. _"Do you think you can ignore me?"_

Ryou sat up, still groggy, unable to locate the Lords or the others. Then, a hissing sound—a point of burning heat suddenly uncomfortably close— _"Look out!"_ —and silence.

Then Kaoru Kino, having jumped in the path of the gleaming arrow of light, collapsed in front of him, a two-inch hole seared all the way through his chest.

"Hey…hey!" Ryou pulled him off the ground as his Agito form fell away. "What the hell was that, huh? The hell is this?"

"My…penance," Kino whispered, his life clearly already fading.

"Don't _say_ that! Shit…" Ryou let him fall, pounding the ground in directionless fury. "What _is_ that? I haven't paid you back yet…you stupid…"

" _Kino!"_ Shouichi backhanded the Ground El aside, charging outside towards where Dr. Kino's body now lay. "You can't…I only just… _you!_ " He aimed himself directly at the Overlord, who turned to regard him dispassionately.

" _And you…"_ The Overlord's hand gave a wave, hurling Shouichi back into the warehouse's outside wall. _"…I have had…"_ Now a flick downwards, sending Shouichi down into the ground; behind them Gills' roar echoed through the air as both El charged the enraged proto-Agito.

"… _quite enough of!"_ the Overlord hissed, now simply clenching his fist and letting pressure hit Shouichi from all sides, finally dropping him as he reverted to human form, Ryou doing the same as dodging the hail of arrows put him directly into the path of a devastating double-handed swing of the Ground El's sword.

" _I am glad that, since you've already transgressed by evolving like this, you've at least done so fully. I cannot bring myself to harm my children—that's why I created the Lords for the culling."_ He signalled for the El to deliver the finishing blows to the pair. _"But you are so far gone I no longer recognise you as mine."_

"That's fine. We were never yours to begin with."

He whirled, his eyes narrowing, trying to locate the source of the woman's voice. There.

Four figures striding up the embankment. One discarding a long coat. One loosening a white scarf. One straightening a soft cap. And one with the most idiotic, unfitting smile.

"You did great to hold on so long!" Godai said, holding out a thumbs-up. "Now…let us help, okay? It's what we're here for."

"You're such a kind person…Shouichi," Yukina said, addressing her brother. "But I don't want you to keep going through this. You're not suited to fighting."

"Neither were you, before," he answered, sitting back and catching his breath. She gave a sad smile and nodded.

" _The aberrations again…"_ The Overlord appeared…vexed. _"I appreciate you bringing the final Agito to me, but there is no need for you to involve yourselves. This is nothing to do with you."_

"That doesn't matter!" Hongo declared, thrusting an accusing finger at the Overlord. "As long as there are people like you casting a shadow over mankind, we will be there!"

"And as long as we exist, you don't stand a chance," Ichimonji followed up.

" _More playing at nobility…"_

"All right…" Yukina glanced left and right before locking her gaze on the Overlord, four belts materialising at the group's waists. " _Let's go!"_

Hongo stepped to the head of the other three, throwing his arm across his body in the first stage of his pose. "RIDER…"

"—TRANSFORM!" they called at once, multicoloured bursts of light illuminating the battlefield and leaving four gleaming armoured forms standing before the onlookers.

Silently, without any fuss, Godai forced more golden power through the Amadam, shifting to the black 'Amazing Mighty' Kuuga once again.

Yukina, meanwhile, took a deep breath and raised her head towards the sun, beginning to swell into the burning, deep-red Agito of rage. "It's true, brother…I wasn't suited to this before. But I can't find my way back to being that person. I'm sorry. But what I can do…is accept who I am now, and move forward!" The outer layer of the overly-bulky frame shattered, revealing gleaming silver beneath.

 _That's…the final evolution I just…_ Shouichi realised.

"You showed me the way," she said. "You're a peaceful person, so the middle form was hard for you. But you're so relaxed the final one was no problem. I was the reverse. I could get mad just fine, but actually clearing my mind took me this long…"

" _Are you done?"_ The Overlord summoned the El to his side, directing them forwards.

Likewise, the rest of the quartet advanced a step to be level with Hongo.

"If this is really what you want to be," Ichimonji said to their two younger allies, "make it known now." And indeed they did, for the line of speech went unbroken.

"Kamen Rider #1!"

"Kamen Rider #2!"

"Kamen Rider Kuuga!"

"Kamen Rider Agito!"

Hongo gave an approving nod. "Like the lady said— _let's go!"_ Giving sounds of assent, the four Riders charged into battle.

Yukina met the El of Ground mid-leap, dragging it to the ground and rolling over to throw it back with her full body's weight and keep her forward momentum going. The Wind El sent a glimmering arrow her way, only for Hongo to kick it off-course; as it took aim against him, Ichimonji jumped in from the side, grappling its arms while Hongo darted in and snatched the bow from its grasp, breaking it over his knee.

With the Lords both engaged, Godai stepped through the melee, heading straight for the Overlord. "Hello again."

" _Ah…the fool among fools."_

"You know it."

The Overlord extended a finger. _"But it's not you I'm interested. It's_ you _…return to me…El of the Flame."_ His finger curled slightly, and Godai felt a sudden heat within. A voice he'd hoped never to hear again.

"N-No…" He clamped his hands to his head, falling to one knee, spontaneous flames erupting around him. "I won't _Ku_ —I WON'T _Ga_ —" The ground began to break around him, spikes twisting their way out of his armour, horns warping and stretching, trying to split in two.

" _Ku—Ga—Go-Ra-N-Da-Be-Ga-Ba-Ze—"_ He realised he was the one speaking, while the Overlord smiled down at him. "You…"

" _The Grongi were my children as much as the humans are. They all carried a fraction of the flame of my greatest servant, just as humans have become infected by my brother's fragments. The stronger you become, the closer you come to being the El of the Flame again. Now. Return to me, and—"_

"I WON'T—!" There came a sound of splintering metal as Godai rammed a fist into the side of his helmet, cracking it, both coming away bloody. "Last time…I almost became the end of the world." The fire and the chanting receded, his own rasping breath filling his mind. "I'll never use that form again."

" _That…was not possible,"_ the Overlord stated. _"A single human cannot be stronger than the ultimate darkness."_

Godai pushed on his raised knee with his good hand to rise. "Last time, I beat it just by fighting for one smile…just for his. I had time to think about it since. I know what it means if I lose to it. So this time it's for everyone's in the world." He chuckled. "You really think there's _any_ way you can beat that?"

The Overlord shook himself out of his daze, holding his hand out palm-up and slowly curling his fingers inwards, shoving the light away—or rather, drawing the darkness in. _"I have, perhaps, an idea."_

There came a hiss from back towards the river as the Ground El's sword swung through the air. Yukina made an easy dodge back out of the way, making a brief gesture to summon a weapon from her belt. Unlike Shouichi's twin blades, her version of the form produced a sleek, crimson-tipped spear, rune-covered pennants flowing out from near the end.

The El struck again and she shifted her grip to the base, letting the full length of the shaft block the sword and trap it against the ground. Riding the exhilaration of her new power, she stepped back and let it come at her again, turning away and flipping the spear over to her back to let it parry the next strike behind her. Then she spun back around, shoving both weapons off to the side and leaving the El's body unguarded. She swung a leg up and hooked near the end of her outstretched spear, kicking it back into close quarters while the sword was still out of range and driving into a two-handed thrust with the full weight of her body behind it, piercing right through the Lord's chest and out the other side.

It gave an agonised roar, fingers twitching as it reached for its wound, the Lords' death-halo forming over its head, about to overload and explode.

Yukina reached out and closed her fingers around the halo, crushing it and letting the built-up energy bounce harmlessly off her armoured gauntlet. "You're no angel." Without the usual energy to explode, it simply crumbled into pieces like a shattered stone sculpture, and planting the spear in the centre of the pile she turned her attention to the Overlord.

He was now directing the accumulated darkness at Godai, dragging him back and forth and jabbing into his armour from all sides. _"This is the force that ended my brother. You cannot survive it, without using—"_

"I won't…" Godai mumbled, lurching back and forth as the jagged clouds bit into him. An especially forceful tendril stabbed straight through his belt and upwards into the flesh beneath. "I c-can—"

Light flooded the area, the shadows banished as Yukina stepped up to catch him as he fell, gently setting him down. "You did well."

"I stopped him as long as I could…"

"It's okay." She straightened up, drawing in a deep breath. "I'll finish this."

As light and darkness came face to face, the final Lord was still coming under assault. Unarmed, the El of Wind was much less dangerous, and lashing out at both of the Double Riders at once divided its attention. One arm was twisted around into a painful lock, the other pulled into being fully-extended and broken by a devastating fist to the back of the joint. Hongo turned his hold into a full shoulder-throw, dumping it in front of them as they lined up to synchronise their movements.

"Now!"

"Right!"

They spun through the air, descending with a "RIDER DOUBLE KICK!" and levelling half the warehouse the previous battle had taken place in with the body of the Lord launched airborne, blasting itself apart as it went.

" _I am…unsure of what to make of today,"_ the Overlord admitted, pacing sideways in lockstep with Yukina, both of them reaching the top of the embankment at once. _"Just how far can you go?"_

The observing 'Tetsuya' felt his breath catch. _Yes, that's it…I don't think even you can kill him, but…you can show him._

Her hands weaved through the air as she dropped into a readied crouch, a line of shimmering Agito emblems forming in the air and tracing a path between them. "There's no limit. That's the point. Agito's evolution is never-ending. Which means now so is humanity's. Even someone like me, starting from zero, can grow without limit." Her back foot dug into the earth behind her, armour shining with renewed brilliance. "And you, who can't see that…have become smaller than the smallest of your creations."

" _Ridiculous—_ " And yet there she was, proving her words by existing. _"I reject you, Agito!"_ He flung out his accumulated darkness again, tearing at the mid-air projections she'd created.

"And when did we ask for your approval?!" She released all her built-up tension in an instant, flying at him like a bullet released.

The searing silver glow and the onrushing darkness collided, swirling and mixing together, coils of stray energy arcing off and washing over the landscape all around, then drawing back together and shrinking out of sight, Yukina touching down and skidding to a stop at the end of the now-empty rise.

"Is it done?" Hongo asked, at the head of all the others as they gathered towards her, everyone powering down.

"I don't know." She looked up at the grey skies. "I don't feel like I killed him, but…he's 'gone'. It's like a weight just got lifted." Ryou and Shouichi both concurred. "We won't be called anymore."

Hikawa, meanwhile, seemed to be in shock. "Tsugami…was Agito…and this woman…was also Agito…"

"Uh, yeah," Shouichi said, giving an embarrassed look and patting Yukina's shoulder. "This is my sister. But I'm the Agito you've been meeting all this time. Sorry I didn't tell you! I was scared of people knowing."

"Tsugami…was Agito…" Hikawa mumbled again, his face a mixture of confusion and blush.

"Wasn't Agito your big crush?" Ozawa teased, nudging him in the ribs. "Well, they say never meet your heroes."

Ichijou joined Ozawa in watching with amusement as Shouichi pursued Hikawa around, explaining past incidents while the flustered cop spun in little circles babbling to himself.

"Think they'll work something out?" Ichijou asked.

Ozawa gave an earnest shrug. "I'm not sure Hikawa even wanted Agito to _have_ a human form. What he's into is anyone's best guess." Towards the end of this, though, Ichijou had already turned away as Godai stumbled up and collapsed onto his shoulder.

Ichijou held him close, their foreheads pressed together. "You did great."

"You never used to be this huggy in public…"

"You just fought a creator deity, I could care less."

"Heh…problem, though." He addressed this more to Hongo, calling up the Amadam again and displaying the deep cracks running through it. "It's worse than what Daguva did to it. I don't think I'll be transforming for a while. Maybe a _long_ while."

"It's all right," Hongo said. "You've done more than enough for us, Godai. By the way…has anyone seen my partner?"

* * *

Ichimonji leaned heavily against the remnants of the warehouse's inside wall, vision blurring, pain wracking his body. _Not yet, damn it…not yet!_ He felt his arm twitch, some mechanical servo in the joint glitching, and smacked it with his other hand, forcing it back to normal movement. _There's still so much to do…_ It took almost half a minute to recover this time. _I wish I could trust Yuki to take a look at it without telling Takeshi, but that's unlikely._ Pushing it all out of his mind for now, he headed back to join the others.

* * *

"Thanks for everything!" Yukina knocked fists with Godai. "You know, Shouichi and I came a long way, but I think that final form of yours might be even stronger than ours…"

"Well, maybe," Godai said, trying not to sound too arrogant and almost succeeding. "Yours is real fast, though…but, uh…" He looked off to the side. "That wasn't my final form."

"You're kidding! Goddamn, what _is_ Kuuga?"

"A damn pain," Ichijou said, noting Godai's contented expression as he watched her chase off after her brother. "What?"

"She found her smile. By protecting his."

"I think you made the right call, then. That there is a Rider."

* * *

'Tetsuya' sat out on the roof of his house, watching the sun break through the clouds.

"This is what you wanted." The Overlord's voice was lacking something. Less captivating. He wasn't giving a command; he was holding a conversation. The steps behind shortened their rhythm a little, indicating a stumble. "That Agito would evolve to this level…"

"Not just Agito. All of them," Tetsuya reminded him. "The…Agito grown out of the shell of the woman I loved…was not the first human to strike you."

"That is true. They are stronger than I imagined."

"That's all they've been trying to tell you." Tetsuya turned, setting his drink down and approaching the Overlord, whose image was shadowed and flickering. "What now?"

"I have spent too much of myself…friend." The Overlord stepped past him, to the edge of the roof. "It seems this world will grow without my guidance. I will have to remove my presence from it, for now." He widened his senses for a moment, taking the world in. "Perhaps I will return eventually. Perhaps I will find a new world to try again."

"You believe in them?"

"They have given me no choice. But…the ultimate test of their growth will not be me. It might be another species' turn to inherit the Earth soon, if they continue to meddle with the Stone. Well." He gave a sigh. "That is their story, not mine. I am leaving this world for now, friend…including the part of me that gave you life again."

"I am prepared for that," said the man who could barely remember being Tsugami Shouichi, his voice cracking a little. As the two of them began to fade, he gave the sunlit city, teeming with life and promise, a final look.

* * *

 _Again, you surprise me. You accept this so calmly. Is this, again...that thing you call 'nobility'?_

 _Or could it be...even if they failed...this is what you planned to show me, from the start?_

* * *

"A restaurant?"

"Yup!" Shouichi rubbed his hands together. "If you lot won't appreciate my vegetables, the rest of the world will!"

Ryou shook his head. "'At last, my genius will be recognised!' The mad scientist of healthy eating, right here."

"Where'd, uh, your sister go?" Hikawa asked, jogging to catch up.

Shouichi's smile froze. "Well, you know. Like she said. She can't go back to who she used to be. So she's moving forward…so we can live in peace, y'know."

"Staying still doesn't suit me," Ryou said, tugging his jacket on. "But I wouldn't want to hang around that weird justice crowd either."

"So where _are_ you headed?"

"A guy died today so I could keep living. I'm gonna try and make some use of myself, make sure it was worth it." He found his discarded vehicle, righting it and checking for damage. "Maybe I'll drop by and see if you can finally cook worth a damn someday."

"Hey—!"

* * *

Across the river, the three remaining Riders reconvened. "Always work to do, right?" Yukina asked of her seniors.

"Always," Hongo confirmed. "I'll go through our current threats later. For now, we should introduce you to the others."

"Oh, that'll be easy," Ichimonji joked. "I'm not even sure if Keisuke knows where _he_ is half the time."

"We haven't acquired a new fulltime comrade in twelve years. It's a worthy enough occasion. In any case, kid, and my dear Ichimonji Hayato, let's be off."

"Uh…one thing," Yukina said, raising her hand.

"…yes?"

"I don't really, uh, own a bike. Or know how to ride one. I can do cars?"

"…re-ordering of priorities."

* * *

Odin held up his signature card, preparing to leave this timezone. His thumb rubbed idly over the symbol scratched into the back that had accompanied its upgrade, allowing him to freely traverse the timestream rather than simply wind back the clock.

 _The following year I can't interfere in, if I don't want to I undo my own past._

 _Perhaps I can offer a_ little _assistance, though, and the two of us can reach my goal together, as long as he never finds out._

 _Well. We shall see._

"Time Vent," purred the Visor's voice, and he was gone, a path of gold in his wake.

* * *

 _And that is that for the Agito arc! We shall see many of these people again, but for now: Next chapter, as you might expect, Ryuki begins._


End file.
